CNN
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Federal brokers arrested a Pennsylvania man this week after he allegedly tried to carry explosives in his suitcase on a flight from Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport to Florida.
In response to courtroom paperwork, an alarm alerted that the bags belonging to Marc Muffley contained explosives. Transportation Safety Administration brokers paged Muffley over the airport intercom system and requested him to report back to the airport’s safety desk, prosecutors mentioned, however he didn’t present up.
Quickly after, safety cameras allegedly caught Muffley leaving the airport. He had checked his baggage on Flight 201 certain for Orlando Sanford Worldwide Airport, in line with courtroom paperwork.
The FBI contacted the Carbon County chief of detectives who mentioned he knew Muffley personally, in line with courtroom paperwork, and confirmed that Muffley’s tackle matched the one on his driver’s license.
“The FBI arrested Marc Muffley, 40, with out incident at his Lansford, Pa., residence late Monday evening,” an FBI spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to CNN.
Muffley stays in custody and can make his first courtroom look on Thursday, the FBI spokesperson mentioned.
CNN has reached out to Allegiant Air and the Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport for remark.
In response to the grievance, an alarm alerted Muffley’s baggage to TSA brokers because it was being screened. Brokers inspected baggage and located a “round compound roughly three inches in diameter, wrapped in a wax-like paper and clear plastic wrap hidden within the lining of the bags, amongst different objects,” courtroom paperwork said.
A security bomb technician X-rayed the bag, investigators mentioned, and located that it contained a powder hid within the plastic wrap per “commercial-grade fireworks.” Investigators additionally mentioned a fuse was hooked up to the round compound.
“The bags additionally contained a can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue, a wi-fi drill with cordless batteries, and two GFCI shops taped along with black tape,” the grievance said.
TSA mentioned in an announcement that “out of an abundance of warning, the speedy space of airport was evacuated and the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been notified.”
Bomb technicians decided the merchandise “was certainly a dwell explosive system,” in line with TSA.
“Transportation Safety Officers are extremely skilled and extremely expert professionals on the entrance line of aviation safety and catches similar to this illustrate the purpose,” TSA mentioned in its assertion.
The airport was closed for greater than two hours after the incident, in line with Colin Riccobon, public relations director of the airport. Quite a few businesses responded, together with two bomb squads, and it demonstrated “great teamwork,” Riccobon mentioned.
Checked baggage on the Lehigh Valley airport is handed by passengers to airline personnel on the examine in counter. The bags is then transferred to a TSA agent for screening.
TSA brokers display about 800-1,600 passengers a day on the airport, the company informed CNN.
Pennsylvania courtroom information present that Muffley had been charged greater than a half-dozen instances during the last decade for possession of managed substances, harassment and minor theft, amongst different crimes.
Jack Soberick, the previous police chief in Lansford, Pennsylvania, who federal authorities consulted with earlier than arresting Muffley, mentioned he’d come into contact with the suspect quite a few instances throughout his 25 years with the division in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In a short interview with CNN, Soberick mentioned he didn’t recall particulars however that all the incidents have been minor in nature, similar to drug arrests or misdemeanor home points. Soberick had encountered Muffley each as a suspect and a sufferer, he mentioned. Any violence, he mentioned, would have been restricted to a fist combat.
“There’s nothing that might mild up and say, ‘Hey, this man’s gonna attempt to bomb an plane,’” Soberick mentioned.
“I don’t suppose he’s radicalized or something like that.”
James Desanto, a lawyer who represented Muffley in a number of of his circumstances, mentioned he hadn’t spoken to him in years however that he had additionally by no means had any indication that Muffley had radical beliefs or would have introduced an explosive on a aircraft.
A few of Muffley’s arrests made native information. In April 2017, Muffley was arrested after stealing about $22 price of batteries from a Household Greenback retailer, the Hazleton Normal-Speaker newspaper reported.
Court docket information present that Muffley was charged with retail theft. He pleaded responsible in September 2017 and was sentenced to a 12 months of probation.
Court docket paperwork recommend that Muffley didn’t pay required fines associated to a number of of his courtroom circumstances as lately as December 2022. At a number of factors, prosecutors moved to revoke his probation, though it’s unclear whether or not it was in the end revoked.
