“Suspicious behavior” by several Southwest Airlines passengers prompted officials to divert a flight this morning, according to the FBI.
A Southwest flight was en route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles when it was diverted to Kansas City “out of an abundance of caution,” said Bridget Patton of the FBI Kansas City field office, “based upon suspicious behavior displayed by several passengers.”
Southwest Airlines told ABC News the flight crew “made the decision to divert to Kansas City in response to several passengers who did not follow Crew instruction upon takeoff and continued to exhibit suspicious behavior inflight.”
The extent of the behavior was not immediately clear.
The people “in question” were deplaned, and three people were taken to be questioned, Patton said. The FAA confirmed the flight was diverted to Kansas City and three passengers were taken to be interviewed.
The remaining passengers were also deplaned and K-9 teams searched the plane, Patton said. The plane was then re-boarded and the flight continued, she said. Southwest said the plane landed safely in Los Angeles about one hour behind schedule.
The three passengers were questioned and then rebooked to continue on a later flight, the FBI said.(EMILY SHAPIRO,LUCIEN BRUGGEMAN)
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/flight-diverted-suspicious-behavior-southwest-airlines-passengers/story?id=35356214
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