A Pennsylvania man arrested by the FBI on Monday allegedly has admitted to packing explosive supplies, fuses and a lighter in a suitcase that was checked for a business flight at Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport, federal prosecutors say.
The revelations surfaced as Marc Muffley is making an look Thursday in federal courtroom in Allentown over prices of possessing an explosive in an airport and possessing or trying to put an explosive or incendiary machine on an plane.
U.S. Legal professional Jacqueline C. Romero is requesting that the 40-year-old be held with out bail.
In courtroom paperwork seen by The Related Press, prosecutors say Muffley admitted to packing the supplies in a suitcase that was destined for an Allegiant Airways flight to Orlando on Monday. He then left the airport, known as his girlfriend for a journey and adjusted his telephone quantity earlier than the FBI tracked him down at his dwelling in Lansford later that night, they added.
PENNSYLVANIA MAN ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTING TO BRING EXPLOSIVE ON FLIGHT
Marc Muffley, 40, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation brokers on Monday night time after he allegedly tried to carry an explosive machine onto an Allegiant Airways flight from Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport headed to Orlando Sanford Worldwide Airport on Feb. 27. (FBI)
When workers with Allegiant Airways checked Muffley’s bag earlier that day, TSA brokers have been alerted to the “presence of suspicious objects,” an affidavit beforehand acknowledged.
TSA brokers bodily inspected the bag 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,” in accordance with courtroom data.
When a number of FBI brokers went to the airport to examine the thing and put it by way of an x-ray machine, it was decided that the bag contained a “granular kind of powder” that’s “according to a business grade firework.”
“This granular powder is suspected to be a combination of flash powder and the darkish granulars which can be utilized in business grade fireworks,” a courtroom doc acknowledged. The bag additionally allegedly contained “a can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue, a wi-fi drill with cordless batteries, and two GFCI retailers taped along with black tape.”
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After workers with Allegiant Airways checked Muffley’s bag, Transportation Security Administration brokers have been alerted to the “presence of suspicious objects,” an affidavit states. (FBI)
One of many FBI brokers additionally noticed {that a} “fast fuse” and a “passion fuse” was connected to the thing, including {that a} passion fuse burns slower than a fast fuse.
The explosive machine posed a “important danger” to the plane and passengers, in accordance with the FBI brokers.
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Muffley was known as to the airport’s safety desk at 11:40 a.m. over the airport’s public tackle system, however he was seen leaving the airport at 11:45 a.m.
A spokesperson for Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport informed Fox Information that the airport remained open through the investigation.
The Related Press contributed to this report.