US flight diverted on passenger's suspicious move

WASHINGTON - US Airways Flight 787 airliner flying from Paris to Charlotte in the southeastern U.S. state of North Carolina was diverted Tuesday due to suspicious behavior of a woman passenger, American authorities confirmed.

The Boeing 767 plane, with 179 passengers and nine crew members on board, landed safely around noon at the Bangor International Airport (BGR) in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine, US Airways spokeswoman Liz Landau was quoted by local media as saying.

The airliner was diverted because a passenger exhibited "suspicious behavior," the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in a statement.

"TSA is aware of reports of a passenger who exhibited suspicious behavior during flight. Out of an abundance of caution the flight was diverted to BGR where it was met by law enforcement, " the TSA statement said.

The "suspicious behavior" involved a Cameroon-born French woman who handed a note to a flight attendant, claiming that she had a surgically implanted device inside her body, according to the office of Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Doctors onboard checked the woman but found no sign of recent scars of surgeries. The woman, whose identities were not disclosed, was traveling alone without checked baggage, and intended to stay in the U.S. for 10 days, the office added.

The U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command said two F-15 fighters were scrambled to escort the plane to the BGR, where local, state and federal law enforcement officers launched an investigation into the incident. It remained unknown if anyone has been taken into custody.

Though anti-terrorism investigators were involved in the probe, an official was quoted as saying that it appeared that the incident was not terrorism-related.