A first-class passenger on an Alaska Airlines trip to Seattle caused panic when he threatened to detonate a bomb if the plane wasn’t diverted. The passenger eventually admitted that he had made up the threat to evade a Mexican drug organization.
According to the federal complaint, on July 5th, Brandon L Scott, 38, was aboard aircraft 334 from Atlanta to Sea-Tac Airport when he reportedly handed a flight attendant a threatening note.
On the back of a receipt, the hijacker made a threat to murder everyone on board if the jet arrived at its destination.
The pilot made a U-turn and headed for Spokane, where the suspected fraudster was quickly apprehended and arrested. There were no explosives discovered.
He then told authorities he wanted to be detained because he was afraid of being tortured by members of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel once he arrived in Seattle.
For his hoax, Scott may spend up to five years in jail and pay up to $250,000 in fines.
The arrest claims that Scott told the flight attendant he had hidden the bomb above his first-row seat. If the pilot didn’t land at a different airport, he threatened to use the detonator.
Scott, who has a criminal record that includes kidnapping and robbery, told the pilot that he would not explode the bomb if he changed the flight’s destination.
He said when they landed in Seattle, Ihe would personally assassinate every passenger on this plane. He allegedly said in the message that he didn’t want any media coverage of the event until after he’d turned himself in.
According to witnesses on board, they were not informed of the possible device on board until their aircraft was rerouted.
According to reports, a passenger was told by the pilot that a mechanical problem required an emergency landing.
The passenger said that it wasn’t until law officials rapidly apprehended Scott on the ground that most people recognized the situation was more dire.
They reported that as everyone glanced down the aisle, they could make out two police officers cuffing a man at the front.
There were a lot of kids on that plane, and it’s frightening to think of what could have happened to them.
