Airports across the world were on high alert yesterday after a passenger with a British passport tried to detonate what appeared to be an explosive packed into his shoes while on a transatlantic flight.
As the FBI questioned the man, who was overpowered by passengers and crew, Foreign Office officials were trying to establish how the man, believed to be Sri Lankan, had obtained the passport.
The episode is a huge embarrassment to French police, who stopped the man as he tried to board a flight in Paris and interrogated him at length, but eventually allowed him to fly.
It is bound to put another dent in public confidence in air travel, which was shattered in the wake of the September 11 attacks on America. The incident also prompted immediate calls for airport security to be further tightened with experts claiming it remains relatively easy for suicide bombers to smuggle plastic explosives on to planes.
The man, who was using a British passport in the name of Richard Colvin Reid, was one of 185 passengers on board American Airlines Flight 63 from Charles de Gaulle airport to Miami on Saturday. Almost five hours into the flight, as he was apparently trying to light a fuse protruding from one of his shoes, he was challenged by a flight attendant who smelled sulphur from a match.
After a struggle the man, who is 6ft 4in tall, was belted into his seat. Two doctors on board sedated him and passengers took turns to guard him while the aircraft was escorted into Boston's Logan airport by two US fighter jets.
The heels of the man's training shoes were found to be filled with what appeared to be a plastic explosive. Sources in the US said it was similar to C4, which has been used by members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in the past, most notably in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
The man was later identified by the French police as a Sri Lankan national called Tariq Raja, who also goes by the name Abdel Rahim. But last night Scotland Yard said it believed the man was a British citizen. It is possible he Fitflop Lolla Womens has dual nationality.
A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts port authority, which runs Logan airport, said his passport had been issued in Belgium three weeks ago and was "questionable".
Foreign Office officials said staff at the British embassy in Belgium were going through their records to establish whether they issued the passport and, if so, under what circumstances. It is understood that a street map of Brussels with a number of places marked with crosses - including a street near the embassy - was found on Raja.
Belgium is among the countries where security services have Fitflops been monitoring al-Qaida activities. Both Belgium and the Netherlands have thriving markets for false passports.
Sri Lanka is not perceived as a country where al-Qaida is active. But in the wake of the first air strikes on Afghanistan some Sri Lankan Muslims, who make up 7% of the population, demonstrated and burnt US flags.
The lapse in security at Charles de Gaulle airport is hugely embarrassing to the airport authorities and police. French police admitted that Raja, who had only one small bag, had tried to take the Miami flight on Friday but was pulled aside by police. He missed the flight but after intensive questioning, during which he claimed he was travelling to Antigua to visit family, he was allowed to board a later flight.
An official for the French air and border police said