Explosive Device Is Seized at Airport

An inactive Army National Guardsman was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport early Monday after a military explosive device was discovered in his carry-on luggage as he prepared to board a flight to Oakland, federal authorities said.

Jacques Baker, 32, was getting ready to board a United Airlines flight when he was arrested by airport police on suspicion of attempting to carry an explosive on board an aircraft, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley.

The device, which resembled an M-80 firecracker and is typically used to scare off wildlife, including seals, was detected by security workers as it passed through an X-ray machine about 6:15 a.m.

No flights were affected by the incident at LAX’s Terminal 6, which was closed for just under an hour as a police bomb squad confiscated the device and determined that the area was safe to reopen, said Sgt. Greg Glodery of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“The device was determined not to be a threat,” he said. “The fuse hadn’t been lit.”

Baker, a U.S. citizen who apparently was traveling alone, originally boarded a Continental Airlines plane in Guam and flew to Honolulu, where he boarded a connecting flight to LAX. United’s Flight 596 was scheduled to depart for Oakland at 7 a.m.

“Screeners at our security checkpoint discovered a prohibited device in his luggage,” said United spokesman Chris Brathwaite. “Our security system worked.”

The fact that Baker, who lives in Guam, was having to reenter a security checkpoint at Terminal 6, which is used by Continental Airlines and a portion of United Airlines’ fleet, suggests that he apparently had temporarily left the so-called “sterile zone” between the checkpoint and the aircraft, authorities said.

Officials could not say whether Baker had been traveling with the device or somehow obtained it after his arrival from Honolulu.

It was the second arrest in two days at LAX. Early Sunday, the FBI arrested a Danish national identified as Mogens Amdi Petersen on an Interpol warrant. The FBI declined to provide any details except to say that the suspect was being held at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center and was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate today.

The incidents came a day after the U.S. Department of Transportation assumed ultimate authority over passenger and luggage screening at all 429 U.S. airports.

As in all commercial airports nationwide since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, LAX has remained on a high-alert status. More bags were being searched by hand, by machines that can detect explosives and by specially trained dogs, airline officials said.