'The question is what threat?'

2004-01-02 07:49

Washington - Security concerns prompted the cancellation of the same British Airways flight from London that US authorities had boarded the night before when it landed at Washington Dulles International Airport.

US officials were acting on intelligence information - and not just suspicious passenger names - when they boarded a British Airways jet on New Year's Eve at Dulles, a national security official said.

The flight cancelled on Thursday was one of the airline's three daily flights from Heathrow Airport to Washington. The decision was based on security advice from the British government, British Airways said.

In the New Year's Eve incident, investigators found no evidence of terrorism, and the major consequence appeared to be inconvenience, with the 247 passengers from London waiting more than three hours before getting off the plane while some of them were questioned.

"We had concerns with individuals on the flight, but threat reporting information led us to make the decision to have the flight escorted," a national security official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

"It was fact-related," the official said, and not just connected to the passenger list the United States now receives from airlines flying into this country.

The US official said the long delay was caused in part by weapons screening of passengers, and partly because authorities waited for some law enforcement specialists to arrive.

Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Jennifer Marty said officials began departing from the plane about 22:30, long after the 19:06 landing.

Earlier this week, a scheduled US-bound flight from Mexico was cancelled because of security concerns.

"The government of Mexico made the decision to cancel Aeromexico Flight 490 after the US government shared threat information with the Mexican government," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

Previous reports said the plane turned around in mid-air, but Roehrkasse and Mexican officials said it never took off. Roehrkasse denied that the US government told Mexico it would refuse the plane landing rights.

However Agustin Gutierrez, Mexico's presidential spokesperson, said the flight was cancelled after United States authorities said they would refuse to allow it to land.

He also said Mexico did not receive convincing information for the cancellation.

"The question is what threat?" Gutierrez said. "This question must be answered by Homeland Security. If we are going to have a good climate of co-operation, the least that we can hope for are reasons."

Associated Press writer Traci Carl contributed to this story from Mexico City

- AP