Airline Passenger Pipe Bomb Plot

Fla. airport passenger allegedly sought to build pipe bomb in native Jamaica.

ByABC News
April 2, 2008, 12:27 PM

April 2, 2008 — -- A Jamaican national arrested Tuesday at Orlando International Airport with bomb making materials and how-to instructions has told authorities he was planning on building a pipe bomb and detonating it in Jamaica, ABC News has learned.

Sources told ABC News that federal authorities are investigating whether or not the man has mental health issues.

Kevin Brown, 32, told authorities he was bought the materials in Gainsville, Florida and was planning on detonating the pipe bomb on a tree stump in his native island nation. At another point, he told investigators he was going to show his friends how to build a bomb like the ones he said he saw in Iraq, according a criminal complaint, though it's unclear if he was ever in Iraq.

Brown was arrested after authorities found two pipes with end cap holes in them, two glass bottles apparently containing the explosive nitro-methane, two prescription bottles full of BB pellets, a model rocket igniter, batteries, lighter fluid and instructions on how to build the bomb, according to an FBI statement.

Initial tests indicated that the liquid, was in fact, nitro-methane, though authorities were waiting for the results of lab tests late Wednesday.

Brown was also in possession of a laptop, which is also being analyzed. The laptop was found inside a carry-on backpack, apart from the bomb-making materials.

The arrest cause some tense moments at Orlando national airport on Tuesday.

Watch video of the man's arrest.

Federal behavioral specialists spotted Kevin Brown acting suspiciously around noon in the ticketing area.

A search of his luggage revealed the materials.

Authorities told ABC News they are not currently of any ties to organized terrorism.

Fellow travelers said they thought there was something wrong with Brown.

"He was acting all weird, shaking left to right, up and down,'' passenger Jason Doyle told ABC News affiliate >WFTV. "He looked like a crazy man, basically."

When officers x-rayed Brown's luggage they found the bomb-making materials and took him into custody.

"TSA workers told us to move away from the windows, that the man over there was a very bad man," said another Air Jamaica passenger, Yvonne Turner.

A judge on Wednesday postponed a bond hearing on Thursday as prosecutors continued to investigate Brown's story. It was immediately not known whether Brown had legal representation.

The security scare caused long delayed flights and caused long lines at the international airport, WFTV reported.

Clarence Counts, Brown's court-appointed public defender, declined to comment as he prepared for a formal bond hearing Thursday, according to the Associated Press.