Indian Pax Prompt LGA Fighter Escort

[Airbubba]

July 17, 2002


Jets Escort Plane to N.Y. Airport
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 1:15 a.m. ET


NEW YORK (AP) -- Military jets escorted a jet to LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday night after a passenger became alarmed by others passing notes, officials said.

About 15 minutes before American Trans Air Flight 204 was due to arrive from Chicago, a passenger told a flight attendant that seven others were engaged in "suspicious activity,'' passing notes and changing seats, Port Authority spokesman Alan Hicks said.

The flight attendant notified the pilot, who alerted federal aviation authorities. Two F-16 fighter jets escorted the plane -- a Boeing 757 with 98 passengers plus a crew -- to the ground, said Maj. Barry Venable, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The plane landed five minutes late, and no one was hurt.

The seven passengers, who are from India, were being questioned, the Port Authority spokesman said.

Since Sept. 11, NORAD has scrambled fighters or diverted them from other missions more than 400 times to assist civilian aviation authorities, Venable said.

[N380UA]

Please excuse my comment on this, but doesn’t it seem as though everybody wants to be a hero nowadays by reporting so-called “suspicious” behaviour which results in a paranoia reaction?
Surely one can’t determine a terrorist solely by the looks of an individual. Take Walker for example, he doesn’t at all fit the type characteristics of a Muslim fanatic and yet he was and got convicted on such charges.
Perhaps it would be appropriate now to scale this hype back just a notch and resume on some more common horse sense?

Before any one gets offended, yes I know what happened on the 11th and yes I keep hearing of all these continued threats Al’Quaeda is apparently proclaiming every other day. We have yet to see any concrete evident that any such operation is in the going, if you know what I mean.

[WeatherJinx]

N389OUA
doesn’t it seem as though everybody wants to be a hero nowadays by reporting so-called “suspicious” behaviour which results in a paranoia reaction?

So, what would you have them do...keep quiet about it? It's that kind of attitude that ALLOWS terrorism to perpetuate itself in the first place. The pax wasn't being 'a hero' just vigilant. Tell me, what would you do if people appeared to be passing notes and changing seats on a flight you were on?

A very stupid comment indeed.

WxJx:mad:

[N380UA]

First of all I’d keep my composure. I’d be at most, as you said vigilant but certainly not reacting by crying wolf! As for perpetuating the fear of terrorism, my friend, it’s folks like you that have a somewhat disillusioned grip on reality assuming that the world is out to destroy all that in the farthest represent western society. Do we face an acute threat by terrorists today? I think not. Do we and are we doing something to combat terrorists around the world? Yes we do. But let us not disregard what makes us – the western civilized society, distinguish to be so special, our human rights philosophies.

[WeatherJinx]

And how on earth do you think they knew whether ot not they were crying wolf, or alerting the crew something genuinely suspicious?

[Airbubba]

New York Times July 18,2002


Bollywood Farce: Indian Actress and Family Are Detained
By LYDIA POLGREEN


the Vermas could have been any family flying into New York City for the first time. Looking down on the glittering island, Ravi Verma delivered an excited monologue in Malayalam, pointing out the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the skyscrapers of the financial district to his wife and two daughters.

This was no ordinary family. One of Mr. Verma's daughters, a star of Bollywood movies, is on a tour of the United States. Her fans in Kerala, in southern India, consider her the Julia Roberts of Malayalam-language films. She has starred in 18.

But other passengers on American Trans Air Flight 204 from Chicago Tuesday night feared that the family had a more sinister purpose. Acting on a nervous passenger's suspicions, the authorities called in two fighter jets to escort the plane to La Guardia Airport, where it landed at 11:05. The entire family, two traveling companions and another man were taken into custody for several hours of questioning by the joint terrorism task force.

"I don't know, maybe they thought we were choosing targets or something," Mr. Verma said yesterday in an interview at his hotel in New Jersey. His 20-year-old daughter the movie star, Samyuktha Verma, is touring in a variety show with an Indian singer and a comedian for audiences across the country. Ms. Verma's last film, "Thenkasipattanam," was the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever.

What unfolded on the flight and at the airport Tuesday night was a comedy of errors worthy of most ingenious screenwriters in Bollywood, India's film industry, Mr. Verma said yesterday. "Really, it was all a misunderstanding," he said.

According to law enforcement officials, a passenger on the flight had been alarmed by the behavior of members of the group and alerted a flight attendant.

"At least one passenger perceived the seven to be engaged in suspicious actions," said Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority. "According to passengers they were constantly passing notes and switching seats. A passenger reported this to a flight attendant, who notified the pilot, who notified ground control."

Ms. Verma, a petite, dark-eyed young woman whose quiet, shy demeanor gives no hint that she has starred in 18 movies in the last three years, gave a different account.

"We were enjoying the flight and we were all very excited," she said. "we were arguing over who would sit next to the window because New York is such a beautiful city, and it was our first time here. When the plane landed, the police came on and a woman pointed to us. Then they took the men away."

The men, the other members of Ms. Verma's troupe, were Biju Narayanan, 29, a star pop singer in Kerala, and Jairaj Kattanellur, 39, a comedian specializing in satire and mimicry. The seven or eight police officers also took a third man from India who was not part of the group but was sitting nearby, she said.

"The policemen had guns, and we had never seen anything like this except maybe in films," Ms. Verma said. "We were scared because we didn't know what to do or what we have done."

The men in the group were questioned separately, Mr. Verma said. They were asked what they were doing in America, whether they had been to Pakistan or Afghanistan, and what religion they practiced. They are all Hindus, like the majority of Indians. The police finally decided that the people in the group, who were going to New York from Dallas to perform at Queens College on Saturday, were harmless, and let them go shortly before 4 a.m.

"The tragedy is they left Dallas at 1 o'clock, and they were out until 4 a.m., and hadn't eaten anything but peanuts," said Jacob Roy, publisher of "Malayalampathram," a weekly Malayalam paper that circulates all over the United States, who went to the airport Tuesday night to pick up the group.

News that the actress had been detained annoyed many people in New York's Indian community.

"You know what?" said Aseem Chhabra. "We all look like terrorists." Mr. Chhabra is a freelance journalist in New York who writes about the Indian entertainment industry. "I understand people are still on high alert, even though it has been almost a year after 9/11. We are all scared. But come on. This woman is an actress, not a terrorist."

Ms. Verma was not the first — or the most famous — Indian star to raise suspicion while traveling. Kamal Hassan, one of India's biggest film stars, was detained for questioning at the Toronto airport in May.

Nitin Mukul, administrative and creative director for the IndoCenter of Art and Culture in Chelsea, said a performing group the center had sponsored was also detained in May. The group, a well-known Qawwali ensemble, had come from Pakistan to perform mystical Sufi music.

"It was a tremendous embarrassment," Mr. Mukul said. "These are artists. I think there is so much paranoia, and the judgment calls people in the airlines are making are really questionable."

Lisa Jacobson Brown, a spokeswoman for American Trans Air, said: "The only statement we are going to make is that A.T.A. is doing and will continue doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our passengers."

Ms. Verma had no hard feelings.

"At first I thought I would never want to come to America again, I was so scared," Ms. Verma said.

"But the police were very nice to us. They made sure we were comfortable and they treated us well. America is good country, and I understand people are afraid of people who look different."

[N380UA]

Wx

Any statement? Still convinced of terroristic intend on ATA 204?
:rolleyes:

[AtlPax]

Samyuktha Verma's web page (http://free.freespeech.org/samyukthavarma/)

A very attractive lady. I don't know how the other folks she was travelling with look, but it sounds like the "worried passenger" has an awfully vivid imagination. :rolleyes:

[Rollingthunder]

N380UA

"We have yet to see any concrete evident that any such operation is in the going, if you know what I mean."

We likely won't see any of that nice concrete evidence stuff until afterwards. Like last time. They are maniacs, but they aren't stupid. Well some of them are.

"Do we face an acute threat by terrorists today? I think not".

I think so. Where have you been?

"But let us not disregard what makes us – the western civilized society, distinguish to be so special, our human rights philosophies".

And let's not have these fine principles used agaist us.

We can't go crazy over all this but all of us must be vigilant. It is the only defence.

[ExSimGuy]

I'll certainly be careful next time I fly not to switch to the window seat on approach, or to talk "suspiciously" to any of my fellow pax :rolleyes:

[Airbubba]

Why Indian actors won't joke (anymore)


AFP [ MONDAY, JULY 22, 2002 2:49:26 PM ]

CHENNAI: Indian movie stars were told on Monday not to crack jokes, sing aloud or flex their muscles while flying to Malaysia and Singapore this week, following an incident in which an Indian actress sparked a terror alert at a US airport.


The South Indian Actors Association advised its 200 film stars, among them celluloid "villains", to refrain from resorting to mimicry on their way to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to give a cultural performance.


"The villains ... have also been told not to flex their muscles or jokingly push around other members as it can raise the suspicion of airline crew," an official of the association said on condition of anonymity.


"All the members of the group will have a common dress code also," the official said. He said the behaviour code was drawn up because the association did not want to attract the attention of foreign security agencies who have been on alert following the September 11 attacks.


Last week, south Indian actress Samyuktha Verma and seven members of her entourage were questioned by US law enforcement agencies after a passenger on board their American Trans Air flight reported that they were indulging in "suspicious activity".


The actress and other members of the group, who were on their way to New York from Chicago for a cultural function, were seen passing notes, changing seats and mimicking some actors -- apparently as a rehearsal their roles in the event.


The aviation authorities in the United States were alerted and the plane was escorted to the airport by two military F-16s. Later they were released after being questionied.


Now movie officials are taking no chances. "Initially the plan was to take the whole group in one flight. But now the association has decided to split up the artistes into three or four groups," an official of the association said.


The cultural show is set for Kuala Lumpur on Friday and in Singapore the day after. Both cities are home to sizeable Indian populations, especially south Indians.

[rsoman]

N380UA
*****
But let us not disregard what makes us – the western civilized society, distinguish to be so special, our human rights philosophies.
*****
Well said !

For long one of the fauvorite topics for everyone in the west is the human rights abuses in the so called "less developed" world!
Some of it might be true! But such incidents as reported in this posts makes these societies who are the self proclaimed guardians of human rights equally culpable!


They do say that "Silence is Golden" and I guess there is no better place to put in practice than while being a pax on any flight originating to/from the US of A.

Cheers

RSO

[Paterbrat]

Well rsoman if you applied that to Pprune threads and N380UA kept his head where it appears to be firmly lodged we would all applaud the decision.