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Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005

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  The pilot of the Cessna and at least four suspected illegal immigrants were detained by homeland security officials in connection with a possible smuggling operation, according to newspaper and broadcast reports.

A police dispatcher said federal authorities forced the craft to land just before 10 p.m. Monday at Stinson Municipal Airport, a few miles south of downtown San Antonio.

``They brought a plane down. They are holding it,'' the San Antonio Police Department dispatcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press. ``They asked us to assist them. The FBI is handling it now.''

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd in Washington said Tuesday that investigators had found no links between the detainees and international terrorism.

Boyd said the pilot was a Mexican citizen and the four passengers were trying to get into the United States for economic reasons.

Security had been stepped up in Boston last week after a tipster claimed that a group of Chinese people had entered the United States from Mexico, en route to Boston. The implication was that the group was plotting to detonate a radioactive ``dirty bomb.'' No evidence was found for such a plot, and authorities have said they didn't think the tip was credible.

Representatives of the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

The San Antonio Express-News said the plane was intercepted south of San Antonio. Federal agents and San Antonio police surrounded the plane after it landed.

Online FAA records show the 20-year-old plane is co-owned by Afzal Hameed of Dover, Del., and Alyce S. Taylor, no address given.

The FAA records show the plane's last three-year registration was filed in 1999, and that the agency received no response in 2002 after new registration forms were mailed to Hameed.

The Delaware address on the aircraft's registration is an office of Corporation Service Co., which provides legal services to large corporations.

Shannon Hackney, a spokeswoman for the company, said she was unaware of anyone by Hameed's name. She said the plane probably was registered through Corp. America, which formerly occupied the Dover address.

She said Corp. America, which frequently registered planes and boats for individuals, had been acquired by her company.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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