Security increased at Atlanta airport
Security has been stepped up at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as part of a nationwide response to the discovery of numerous suspicious packages shipped from Yemen to the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flights out of Atlanta Friday afternoon were not affected but the Department of Homeland Security said passengers may notice more security inside the airport.
Friday also was the day the Transportation Safety Administration, part of Homeland Security, was implementing stricter passenger checkpoints with either whole body scans or more thorough pat-downs.
TSA said in a statement: "As a precaution, DHS has taken a number of steps to enhance security. Some of these security measures will be visible while others will not. The public may recognize specific enhancements including heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports. Passengers should continue to expect an unpredictable mix of security layers that include explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams and pat downs, among others."
Suspicious packages were discovered on cargo planes in the United Kingdom and Dubai late Thursday night, leading to a White House alert of a "potential terrorist threat."
The UK package, discovered during a routine screening aboard a United Parcel Service plane in East Midlands north of London, contained a toner cartridge with wires and powder. CNN reported that U.S. officials believe the package may have been a dry-run by terrorists with links.
Law enforcement officials were investigating Friday reports of suspicious packages on Atlanta-based UPS cargo planes in Philadelphia and Newark, N.J.
Mike Mangeot, a spokesman for UPS, said two planes in Philadelphia that had come from Cologne, Germany, and Paris were being investigated.
"Out of an abundance of caution, those aircraft have been isolated, and they are looking into the shipments in question there," he said.
A third plane had arrived in Newark, N.J., from East Midlands airport in England. That plane was cleared and flew to UPS' main hub in Louisville, Ky., on its usual route, Mangeot said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
