Men Spur Airport Suspicions

Two men are being held on immigration charges after they aroused suspicion at Seattle's airport this weekend, a newspaper reports.

The Seattle Times reports the two men, who have not been named, were detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday after they tried to pay cash for one-way tickets on separate flights to New York City.

Neither man has been charged with a crime.

The men's names, which have not been released, appear on government lists of passengers who require extra scrutiny, the paper reports. One man, 29, appears on a no-fly list. The other, a 36-year-old, is listed as a "selectee," meaning security should treat him with caution but automatically not bar him from flight.

Federal authorities have searched several locations in Washington State in connection with the men, and looked for the names of the men's associates on passenger lists for the flights the men tried to take. It is not clear where the searches occurred, or what they sought or found.

Federal authorities have also sent requests for information to Pakistan, from which the men hail, and Canada. The Times reports the men told investigators they had been smuggled in from British Columbia weeks ago. The 36-year-old had a Vancouver driver's license. The 29-year-old held a license from New York.

The men were seen together at the airport, the newspaper reports, but tried to buy tickets separately at different counters an hour apart. One man left his ticket on the counter and fled when security was called.

Several federal sources said that the 29-year-old man had been turned away from an airport before and was briefly detained. One source said that took place on Sept. 10, 2001. Others told The Times the detention was around that date, but would not say exactly when.

The newspaper said it could be weeks before the men face an immigration hearing.

The report comes amid heightened concerns about airport safety.

On Wednesday, three men were charged with attempting to sell a shoulder-fired missile capable of downing a commercial jet to an FBI informant posing as a terrorist. The men allegedly were ready to obtain another 50 missiles for the terrorist.

Also Wednesday, British Airway suspended flights to Saudi Arabia because local authorities uncovered what Saudi officials said was a terrorist plot to attack a British plane.

This weekend, three boaters went off course amid rough weather near John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, drifted ashore and walked across a runway unimpeded by security.

The Department of Homeland Security said in March that it had surveyed 80 airports to gauge security.

In a security advisory issued last week, the department warned, "al Qaeda may attempt to modify common electronic items carried by air travelers for use as weapons in order to circumvent improved security screening."

The unusually specific alert is based on information from a recently captured al Qaeda operative that the terror group may be planning a new hijacking.

Earlier this month, the government suspended two programs that allow foreigners to transit U.S. airports without visas to catch connecting flights between international points.