American Airlines mechanic accused of sabotaging jet
Employee may have terrorist ties, feds say
MIAMI – An American Airlines mechanic accused of sabotaging a navigation system on a flight with 150 people aboard at Miami International Airport was denied bond by a federal judge Wednesday after prosecutors suggested he may have links to a Middle East terrorist organization.
Abdul-majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, a 60-year-old veteran employee, told investigators after his arrest earlier this month that he disabled the system because he was upset over stalled union contract negotiations with the airline and wanted to generate some overtime for maintenance on the plane. He said he meant no harm to anyone, and the July 17 flight was aborted before takeoff after an error alert appeared on the navigation system.
But federal prosecutors revealed new information about possible motives that prompted Magistrate Judge Chris Mcaliley to keep Alani behind bars, ruling that he posed a danger to the community and a flight risk.
“I have evidence before me that suggests you could be sympathetic to terrorists,” Mcaliley said, calling his alleged tampering with the aircraft “highly reckless and unconscionable.”
His arraignment on a sabotage-related charge is scheduled for Friday; if convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
At his detention hearing, prosecutors said that since his arrest investigators with the Fbi-led Joint Terrorism Task Force have learned that Alani lied about taking a trip to Iraq in March to visit his brother, and that he told a fellow American Airlines employee in June that his brother had been kidnapped and was a member of the Islamic State extremist group.
Prosecutors also said Alani allowed the FBI to search his smart phone and agents found a “disturbing” Islamic State video in which a person was being shot in the head, and that he sent the video to someone with an Arabic message asking “Allah” to take revenge against non-muslims. In addition, they said Alani sent $700 to someone in Iraq, where he was born and has family.
Prosecutor Maria Medetis told the judge that when federal investigators questioned Alani after his arrest Sept. 5, he told them he had an “evil side” and that he “wanted to do something to delay” the plane “to get overtime” for maintenance repairs. After putting in a double shift on July 17, he actually did some overtime work on the disabled plane. On average, he made $9,400 a month as an American Airlines mechanic.