In Houston, both the TSA and United Airlines have remained silent regarding an incident last month where a man managed to board a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport without proper authorization.
As detailed in a criminal complaint, Abdulrahman Oriyomi had a flight reservation that was canceled. Additionally, the boarding pass he presented was reportedly forged.
Authorities revealed that surveillance footage captured Oriyomi conversing with a TSA agent on the morning of May 18. After their interaction, he was escorted to another TSA checkpoint where his photograph was taken, subsequently allowing him to proceed through security.
Michael Matranga, a former Secret Service agent now leading the consulting firm M6 Global Defense, criticized the security lapse, stating that TSA personnel should not have permitted Oriyomi through without a legitimate boarding pass.
“This incident signifies a major security breach, not merely due to his presence on the plane, but because of the multiple security failures that allowed him to reach that point,” Matranga commented.
Law enforcement reports indicate that Oriyomi attempted unsuccessfully to scan his counterfeit boarding pass twice at the gate.
More than an hour later, they say he showed up at another gate where United gate agents were scanning boarding passes.
Police say Oriyomi walked right past the agents while they were busy with other passengers.
“They’re not paying attention to his diversionary tactics. They’re distracted, they’re not situationally aware,” said Matranga.
Police say Oriyomi hid in the plane’s restroom as it taxied to the runway, and that a passenger alerted flight attendants to his presence.
Once the flight crew realized he wasn’t supposed to be on the plane, it returned to the gate where it was met by police, an explosive device unit and the FBI.
Matranga said all of that could have been avoided had Oriyomi been stopped from the beginning at the TSA screening checkpoint.
“At a very minimum, those agents that were directly involved and probably that whole cadre of agents at the airport need to be retrained on policy and consistency in policy,” he said.
Oriyomi was questioned the same day and given a trespass warning, but charges were not filed until June 1, and he wasn’t arrested until Friday morning.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said HPD didn’t approach it about filing charges until June.
HPD told ABC affiliate KTRK that officers didn’t have enough to charge Oriyomi initially. However, after an investigation, he was charged with impairing or interrupting the operation of a critical infrastructure facility.
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