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believe it or not! A stowaway boards White House plane

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  • believe it or not! A stowaway boards White House plane

    Bush Press Plane Stowaway Raises Security Scareb
    Fri July 11, 2003 01:49 PM ET


    A journalist identifies her bags prior to boarding the White House press charter aircraft on the tarmac at Entebbe International Airport, July 11, 2003 in Uganda following a security scare earlier in the day. U.S. agents identified a man who had breached security procedures and flew aboard the aircraft from Pretoria, South Africa, to Uganda before he was apprehended. Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters



    ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - A stowaway flew from South Africa to Uganda on the press plane accompanying President Bush on his visit to Africa and entered the compound where Bush met Uganda's president, U.S. officials said.
    U.S. Secret Service agents conducted a security sweep of the plane after the unidentified stowaway was detained and removed from the compound on the shores of Lake Victoria, where Bush met President Yoweri Museveni on Friday.

    "He did not have a credential. He did not have a passport. He has nothing," said White House travel office official Curtis Jablonka.

    He said the chartered United Airlines Boeing 747 carrying about 130 members of the press, White House staff and Secret Service agents had been "thoroughly swept."

    After Bush's Ugandan visit, agents screened reporters' hand luggage before allowing them to board the aircraft, which was unloaded and inspected before being allowed to continue on its African journey with a flight to Abuja, Nigeria.

    The Secret Service typically provides security oversight for the delegation.

    "There was no indication the stowaway came within sight of President Bush," Jablonka added.

    A reporter from the American Urban Radio network, April Ryan, said she encountered the man at the hotel used by the press in the South African capital Pretoria on Friday morning.

    "He said 'I'm going with you to Uganda'," said Ryan, who added that the man described himself as a reporter from Soweto, but did not appear to have any credentials.

    She said her press pass was checked prior to boarding one of the buses taking delegation members to the airport. An official stopped the man at the door of the bus but allowed him to enter when he said he was with the press.

    Ryan said she lost track of the man after that until she saw security officers drag him away shouting at the Ugandan resort complex.

    A photographer in the press pack said he had become suspicious about the man as the plane prepared to unload after landing in Entebbe.

    He had alerted a security official to the man's behavior, but no action was taken, he said.

    "I saw something funny. He looked suspicious to me and that's why I pointed it out to the agent," said Fred Watkins, a photographer for Johnson Publications.

    "The agent... passed him on," he said.


    now the question is where is usama bin laden ?

    maybe in washington?

  • #2
    since when does a stowaway become a protestor??

    Comment


    • #3
      fixed

      Comment


      • #4
        UAL?

        President Bush taking a UAL to Africa?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by pbateson
          UAL?

          President Bush taking a UAL to Africa?
          Its the press plane.

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