NEW YORK, Sept. 14 -- Authorities have released most or all of the 13 people detained Thursday at two major airports here, saying that there was no evidence they intended to hijack planes and that they were not connected to the terrorists who plunged two aircraft into the World Trade Center.
The 13 who had been detained included one person who was arrested by Port Authority police, according to Joe Valiquette, spokesman for the FBI's New York field office.
"Things were brought to law enforcement's attention and we have to check out every report that we receive," Valiquette said. "But all people detained [Thursday] have been released."
However, the Associated Press said the man arrested by the Port Authority was arrested by the FBI as a material witness today.
Authorities shut LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports shortly after reopening them Thursday, detaining the 13 people after a number of incidents.
The Washington Post and other news organizations cited sources who erroneously believed that two groups of people armed with knives and carrying false identification and open tickets to U.S. destinations had been detained, and that authorities feared they intended to hijack another pair of jetliners in another terrorist attack. The Post, citing unnamed government sources, carried the erroneous report in its late Friday editions, as well as an incorrect front-page headline that read, in part, "Armed Groups Caught Boarding N.Y. Flights."
Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker told reporters today that no knives, box cutters, guns or other weapons were found on the people who were detained. She said there were four incidents:
• At JFK, Port Authority police detained a man who was thought to have a fictitious pilot's license.
• Also at JFK, four people were detained after trying to change airline tickets dated Sept. 11, the day of the deadly terrorist attacks. The four men had been on an airplane that landed at JFK on Tuesday after the World Trade Center assault, but had refused to get off. By the time security officers arrived, the four had left, Tucker said. When they tried to change their tickets Thursday, they were apprehended by Port Authority police and questioned by the FBI, she said.
• At LaGuardia, five people who had gotten off an airplane and were picking up their baggage were detained for questioning after an observer reported what appeared to be crew stickers on some of their bags, Tucker said. The stickers turned out not to be related to any airline.
• At JFK Thursday evening, Tucker said, 10 Port Authority police boarded a loaded plane and removed two men and a woman for questioning. One of the men and the woman, who were traveling together, cooperated with police, but the second man resisted and had to be subdued, Tucker said. The two men were detained because they were on an FBI list of people wanted for questioning, a government official said.
