Student put box cutters on planes 'five weeks ago'

A college student told US authorities he placed box cutters and other banned items aboard two Southwest Airlines planes nearly five weeks before they were found, according to an FBI affidavit.

The affidavit said Nathaniel Heatwole, 20, told agents he went through normal security procedures at airports in Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and was able to carry the forbidden items on to the planes.

Once aboard, he hid the items in a compartment in the rear lavatories of two planes.

The first bag was carried on in Raleigh-Durham on September 12 – the day after the two-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks – and the second on September 15 at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the affidavit said.

Each bag contained a note detailing when and where the bags were carried aboard, as well as modelling clay simulated to look like plastic explosives, matches and bleach hidden in sunscreen bottles.

On September 15, the Transportation Security Administration received an e-mail from Heatwole stating he had ”information regarding six security breaches” at the Raleigh-Durham and Baltimore-Washington airports, the FBI affidavit says.

“The writer stated that he smuggled several items on his person and some in his bag,” the affidavit said.

The e-mail provided precise details of where the two plastic bags were hidden - right down to the exact dates and flight numbers – and even provided Heatwole’s name and telephone number.

“The e-mail author also stated that his actions were an ’act of civil disobedience with the aim of improving public safety for the air-traveling public’,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit does not say what was done about the e-mail after it was received in September.

The bags containing box cutters and other items were not discovered until last Thursday night, after a lavatory on one of the planes had maintenance problems and workers found the banned items.

Authorities then ordered searches of all commercial aircraft.

Heatwole is expected to make an appearance in court in Baltimore.

Federal authorities planned to charge him with bringing a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.