Feds: Flier tried to smuggle, build bomb
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - April 2, 2008 The FBI was still trying to determine whether Kevin Brown was
ever in Iraq. He did not speak at a brief court hearing where he
was ordered held without bail while prosecutors reviewed his mental
health records.
Brown, 32, was arrested Tuesday at Orlando International Airport
after allegedly checking luggage for an Air Jamaica flight.
Transportation Security Administration behavior experts spotted him
acting suspiciously in the ticketing area and authorities found the
unassembled bomb-making materials in his bag.
Clarence Counts, Brown's court-appointed public defender,
declined to comment as he prepared for a formal bond hearing
Thursday.
The FBI said TSA officials searched Brown's checked luggage
before it was put on the plane. It had two glass bottles of
nitromethane, a colorless liquid used as a fuel for drag racing, in
manufacturing and as a cleaning solvent. The baggage also had
galvanized pipes, end caps, two small containers containing BB's,
batteries, a laptop, and instructions on how to make bombs, the FBI
said in a court filing.
Brown is charged with one count of attempting to carry an
explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft. The FBI believed his
most recent address was in Gainesville.
Passengers were briefly cleared out of the ticketing area where
Brown checked in for a flight to Montego Bay in Jamaica. A bomb
squad arrived, and Brown was searched on the sidewalk outside the
Air Jamaica counter by investigators in protective suits.
Some Orlando International Airport flights were delayed up to
two hours, spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said.
Air Jamaica executive director Shirley Williams said the items
could not have caused an explosion and the aircraft and its
passengers were never at risk.
Jamaica's prime minister has ordered the Jamaica Constabulary
Force to conduct is own investigation into Brown's activities in
that country.
The FBI said it believed Brown was in the United States
legally.