FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were last night still interrogating a man who was allegedly held earlier in the day with bomb-making materials while waiting to board an Air Jamaica flight at the Orlando International Airport in Florida.

The flight was destined for Montego Bay, the western Jamaican city, but the alleged seizure of the bomb-making materials forced the shutdown of the airport's operation as a security precaution.

Last night, the FBI named the man as Kevin Brown, a Jamaican who they said was approximately 32 years old.

"Brown was arrested by the FBI this evening in connection with United States Code Title 49, Section 46505 - Carrying a weapon or explosive on an aircraft," the FBI said in a release issued at 9 o'clock last night. "Brown will appear at his initial appearance at the Federal Court House in Orlando on April 2, 2008. Initial record checks indicated Brown was legally in the United States."

Brown was searched by security personnel after he was observed behaving 'suspiciously', airport officials said yesterday.

A statement on the Transport Security Administration website, www.tsa.gov, the agency responsible for port security in the US, said a staff member trained in behaviour detection alerted police to the man's activities.

"Behaviour detection officers in Orlando today identified a suspicious passenger entering the A terminal. Upon inspection of the individual's checked bag, suspicious items were identified. Law enforcement was notified and the individual has been taken into custody," the statement said.

Pipes with end caps, metal ball bearings, two small containers containing BBs, batteries, and potentially explosive or flammable liquids were allegedly found in luggage the man had checked onto flight 080, which was scheduled to depart for Montego Bay at 2:25 pm yesterday.

The Orlando Bomb Squad later said it found instructions on wiring, making explosives and hand grenades inside the man's luggage. The items could not be detonated during flight as they would have been in the loading area of the aircraft.

The incident took place near the Air Jamaica and Virgin Airlines ticket counters and resulted in delays for hundreds of travellers. By late yesterday evening normality was returned to the airport and Air Jamaica flights resumed.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding asked the police commissioner, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, to conduct a probe into the activities and background of the arrested man to "ensure the safety of the nation and the national airline from any potential threat'".

Golding said the Jamaican Government had made contact and were co-operating fully with the authorities in Orlando.

The incident comes on the second day of a counter-terrorism training workshop for law enforcement officials from Commonwealth countries in the region, being held in Kingston, the Jamaican capital.

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