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A first-class passenger flying to Seattle allegedly threatened to blow up the plane if it didn’t divert, later telling police he believed a Mexican hit squad was lying in wait for him at the aircraft’s intended destination.
The mid-air scare occurred on the afternoon of July 5, aboard Alaska Airlines flight 334 from Atlanta to Sea-Tac airport, according to a federal complaint filed Thursday. While en route, the complaint says Brandon L. Scott, 38, scrawled a note on the back of a receipt and handed it to a flight attendant identified in court papers only as “S.Y.”
“There is a bomb on the plane,” it read, according to the feds. “This is not a joke. Several pounds of homemade explosives are in my carry on bag. I have a detonator with me. Handle this matter carefully and exactly how I say, otherwise I will detonate the explosives and kill everyone on board. You are to alert the pilot to this note and keep the issue to yourself. Many innocent lives are in your hands, do as I demand and everyone will live. Deviate and the consequences will be deadly for all of us. I have nothing left to lose.”