Feds detain, question 2 men thought to be acting suspicious aboard Orlando-to-Phoenix flight

TSA: 2 passengers detained after flight to Phoenix

PHOENIX — Two men thought to have been acting suspicious aboard a flight bound for Phoenix were detained and questioned by federal anti-terrorism authorities before they were released, the FBI said Sunday.

Transportation Security Administration officials said passengers aboard U.S. Airways Flight 192 from Orlando, Fla., on Saturday night reported that two men, described as Middle Eastern, were acting strangely and talking loudly to each other in a foreign language.

A nearby passenger also observed one of men watching what appeared to be footage of a suicide bombing, but was actually a scene from the 2007 movie “The Kingdom.” The man also got up from his seat while the seat belt warning sign was still lit, FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson said.

“The totality of those three occurrences led this passenger to believe this was suspicious,” he said.

The flight crew called for law enforcement and TSA officers to meet them when the plane landed at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport at about 8 p.m. Authorities said the two men were met by Phoenix police and TSA officials at the flight’s airport gate and later interviewed by FBI agents.

Nothing dangerous was found during a search of the plane and passengers’ luggage, police said. The men were released after questioning and allowed to continue on to California, Phoenix Johnson said.

The flight’s final destination was San Diego. Authorities did not release the men’s names, ages or hometowns.