ORLANDO -- Officials say a Jamaican man accused of trying to carry explosives on a flight from Orlando told the FBI he wanted to show friends in his home country how to build a bomb.
A criminal complaint said Kevin Brown told the FBI that he wanted to show friends how to make explosives like the kind he saw in Iraq. The FBI is still trying to determine whether the 32-year-old was ever in Iraq.
Brown's bond hearing was delayed Wednesday so prosecutors could further examine his mental health records. His next bond hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Brown's family members say he is not a terrorist. His former mother-in-law told the Orlando Sentinel that he has not been the same since he served in Iraq several years ago and that he acts crazy when he doesn't take medicine for depression.
Brown was booked on a Jamaica Air flight to Montego Bay Tuesday when he was arrested after a Transportation Safety Administration behavior detection officer spotted him acting suspiciously.
TSA workers then began questioning Brown and searching his backpack and luggage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that inside Brown's checked bag they found galvanized pipes, containers of BBs, batteries, containers with unknown liquids inside and bomb-making literature.
No actual assembled explosives were found, but the whole scare caused part of Terminal A to be blocked off for several hours.
Brown was arrested and is being held at the Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County.
Witnesses said they could tell that there was something wrong with Brown, even before he was arrested.
"He was rocking left to right, looking all crazy. I don't know what was going on, but police came, the searched him, took off his shoes," said one passenger.
OIA said that their security plans worked in this incident.
"The system that we have in place worked," said Carolyn Fennell, a spokeswoman for the airport. "We isolated the bags, we identified the person, and they were taken into custody. The situation was evaluated, and we had the support of many agencies."
The incident happened as TSA screeners were beginning to use new techniques to focus on suspicious behavior in addition to baggage. See related story.
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