US bans Jamaica cargo
28 / 02 / 2011
THE US Transport Security Administration (TSA) has banned all air cargo from Jamaica to the US after a bomb threat. The ban will remain in place for 72 hours until Wednesday night.
The threat claimed a bomb would be in the cargo hold of Air Jamaica flight 037, which landed at the Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale on Monday night. Security staff searched the plane, without allowing passengers to disembark, but found no trace of explosive. The aircraft then returned to Kingston.
Colonel Oscar Darby, director general of Jamaica’s Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We had a report…of a threat which was not corroborated. It seems the US has analysed the threat and they think there’s a credible [chance] of somebody placing an incendiary device in cargo, so they will be suspending cargo in and out of Jamaica for the next 72 hours until they [put] appropriate measures in place.”
TSA officials are now en route to Jamaica to investigate further.