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Bum luck: Suspicious device found in traveler
Passenger detained after items detected lodged in cavity; jetliner diverted
 | NBC VIDEO |
 | Passenger hid device in rectum March 8: An Iraqi national was detained at the Los Angeles airport after hiding a device in his rectum, but his bags made it on the plane. What does that say about airport security? The Most |
LOS ANGELES - An Iraqi immigrant with a suspicious device lodged in a body cavity was detained Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.
A jetliner bound for Philadelphia, meanwhile, was diverted to Las Vegas because the man's luggage was aboard.
Officials said the device and the luggage were cleared by bomb squads in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
"There never was a threat," said Larry Fetters, a security director for the federal Transportation Security Administration.
Fadhel Al-Maliki, 35, was held for a mental evaluation and for a possible immigration violation, federal officials said.
Al-Maliki, of Atlantic City, N.J., is a permanent legal resident who came to the U.S. in 1994.
"He initially said (the device) was therapeutic," she said.
The device had a wire and what may have been a magnet concealed in his rectum, federal officials said. It did not contain any explosives.
Al-Maliki said he had flown to Los Angeles for a visit, Eimiller said.
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Flight 1422, carrying 143 passengers and six crew, landed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas about 8:30 a.m. The plane was searched and later cleared to continue on to Philadelphia, an airport spokesman said.
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