Plane diversion woman was carrying banned items

Gail Marcinkiewicz, spokeswoman for the FBI in Boston, confirmed that Catherine Mayo was carrying banned items in her carry-on bag, including a screwdriver, an unspecified number of cigarette lighters and matches.

Passengers aboard United Flight 923, diverted to Boston yesterday, had grown increasingly nervous as the woman paced the aisle, mumbling incoherent phrases peppered with the word “Pakistan” as their plane flew over the Atlantic.

Some said she had been back and forth to the toilet.

Others described her as in a frenzy and said she had pulled her pants down and squatted on the floor.

Eventually, two men and flight attendants raced up the aisle and tackled her, thrusting the woman onto the bathroom door, then to the ground, and putting her in handcuffs, passengers said.

The outburst on the London-to-Washington flight – just a week after London authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights - prompted a massive security scare.

Catherine Mayo, of Braintree, Vermont, was taken into federal custody and was expected to be charged today with interfering with a flight crew.

Federal authorities said they no indication that terrorism was involved.