Smoker sparks airline bomb scare

A Qatari diplomat tries to sneak a smoke in an airplane bathroom triggered a bomb threat Wednesday evening on a flight from Washington to Denver, with fighter jets scrambled and police put on high alert, police officials said.

No explosives were found on the man. , and officials do not think he was trying to harm anyone, according to one senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An Arab diplomat briefed on the case identified the man as Mohammed Al-Madidi.

The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Officials said air marshals on board flights reticent man and he was interrogated. The plane landed safely and military jets were scrambled.

The incident caused a sensation in the Denver airport, where about 40 fire and police cars, many with flashing lights on, were put up as investigators sorted out the situation.

A senior State Department official said the agency was aware of the tentative identification of the man as a Qatari diplomat, and that there will be "consequences, diplomatic and otherwise" if he had committed a crime.

The latest edition of the department's Diplomatic List, a register of foreign diplomats working in the U.S., pointing to a man named Mohammed Yahoo YM Al-Madidi as third secretary of the Qatari embassy in Washington. Third secretary is a relatively low position on a particular diplomatic post, and it was not immediately clear what his responsibilities would have been.

Foreign diplomats in the U.S., and U.S. diplomats stationed abroad, have broad immunity from prosecution. The official said if the man's identity as a Qatari diplomat confirmed and if it was found that he may have committed a crime, would U.S. authorities to decide whether to ask Qatar to lift his diplomatic immunity so he could be indicted and prosecuted. Qatar could fall, the official said, and the man would probably be deported from the U.S..