BUFFALO, N.Y — A domestic dispute was likely at the root of a possible bomb scare that forced a Boston-to-Chicago flight carrying 83 passengers to land in Buffalo on Monday, but there was never a real threat, the FBI said.
Steven Lanser, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Buffalo office, said authorities got a call Monday morning regarding JetBlue’s Flight 923, which left Boston’s Logan International Airport en route to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. A woman caller in the Boston area said there was a woman aboard who could possibly pose a threat.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston located the caller; Lanser did not identify her but said charges are pending. He would not provide any other details of the call or say how the women knew each other, but said authorities determined it involved a domestic dispute.
“It appears it wasn’t a valid threat,” Lanser said.
The pilot was told what was happening, but passengers were only told they were diverting to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, where it landed about 8:30 a.m.
A woman passenger was taken off the flight and questioned.
Passengers got off the plane on the tarmac and were taken by shuttle to the terminal. Bomb-sniffing dogs checked the passenger compartment, baggage and all passengers and found nothing.
“We’re very confident that there was no explosive device on the aircraft,” said George Gast, chief of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police department.
The plane resumed its flight and was scheduled to arrive shortly after noon, although the passenger being questioned remained in Buffalo.
The incident began with a call to JetBlue’s corporate headquarters “alleging there could be a situation relative to a bomb threat by a passenger on the plane,” Buffalo airport spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer said.
JetBlue confirmed the flight was diverted “due to a security issue” and referred questions to the FBI.
The flight left Boston at 6:32 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 8:31 a.m.
There was no disruption to airport services in Buffalo.
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