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Saturday, May 24, 2003
Luggage check finds bomb
Bellingham man also had knifelike device in bag
Local police and the FBI arrested a commercial fisherman yesterday and charged him with trying to board an airliner in Bellingham with explosives in his luggage.
Ricky Reed was on his way to Alaska to go fishing when an official at the security checkpoint asked him whether he had any weapons.
Reed produced two pocket knives.
When the official told Reed he could not board the aircraft with the knives, Reed asked if they were afraid he was going to "try and hijack the airplane," according to court documents.
That remark prompted a search of Reed's carry-on briefcase. It revealed a knife-sharpening device resembling a 7-inch-long ice pick. Airport officials then pulled Reed's checked luggage from the Horizon Airlines aircraft and discovered a "seal bomb" inside his shaving kit.
The bomb, used to scare seals away from fishing nets, is a cylindrical device about 3 3/8 inches long and five-eighths of an inch in diameter that is filled with black powder and carries explosive power equivalent to one-quarter stick of dynamite.
An FBI explosives expert told the arresting agent that if the seal bomb had blown up next to an outer wall of the aircraft, it "would have blown a hole through the wall and caused the aircraft to go down."
However, investigators do not believe Reed intended to interfere with the flight.
The 43-year-old Bellingham man was charged with one count of attempting to carry an explosive device onto an aircraft and one count of attempting to carry a concealed dangerous weapon onto an aircraft.
Each count carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A federal magistrate released Reed on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing June 11.
P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com
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