Praying passengers spark terror threat on an Alaskan Airline

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Praying passengers spark terror threat on an Alaskan Airline

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Pilots alerted authorities of a terror threat when Jewish men started praying aboard a flight.

14 March,2011 04:06 pm

Pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities on Sunday when a flight crew grew alarmed at the behavior of three men who turned out to be conducting an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer. Airline spokesperson, Bobbie Egan, said that the men began a ritual that involved tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body when the crew of Flight 241 alerted the cockpit.The cockpit was placed on a security lockdown for the rest of the flight which meant that the cockpit door could not be opened even for pilots to leave briefly. FBI and customs agents along with police and a full assignment of fire trucks met the plane at the gate at Los Angeles International Airport. FBI spokesperson, Laura Eimiller, said that the men were escorted off the plane and after questioning, were released without being arrested. Egan said airline officials later learned from law enforcement that the men were performing the ritual known as Tefillin.