French Tipped Off Terrorists

The no-shows on a Paris-to-Los Angeles flight who are now being sought by U.S. authorities may have escaped the dragnet due to French authorities quickly announcing that the cancellation of Christmas flights to Los Angeles were ordered for security reasons.

According to a report in the Washington Times, the premature announcement resulted in "a chorus of groans" from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House.

An unnamed U.S. source is cited as saying that Washington believed that the longer publicity could have been avoided, "the greater the chance to catch anybody else who was suspected of being involved. The French announcement caught everyone off guard."

Nine persons on the passenger list for Air France Flight AF068 to Los Angeles on Dec. 24 were questioned and released by French authorities, who concluded that the detained passengers did not meet any suspect profiles.

However, the U.S. concerns centered on passengers whose names matched those on a U.S. terrorism watch list – and who failed to show up for the flights, according to the Times report.

Among the no-shows was a Tunisian passenger reported to be a licensed pilot and suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda.

Air France has resumed normal service to Los Angeles.

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