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US soldier unaware of explosives in luggage
Source: Agencies |
January 5, 2012, Thursday
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A SOLDIER charged with trying to bring explosives on an airplane in Texas told investigators he used them in Afghanistan but didn't realize any were in a bag he brought to the US and apparently carried on a flight from North Carolina to Texas.
Trey Scott Atwater, of Hope Mills, North Carolina, was arrested on Saturday while trying to go through security at an airport in Texas where he was planning to fly back home.
Authorities say the 30-year-old had a carry-on bag containing C4, a powerful explosive used in Iraq and Afghanistan to blow the hinges off doors or destroy unexploded ordinance.
According to court documents, Atwater told the FBI he is a demolitions expert who returned from his third deployment to Afghanistan in April. He said his Army special forces team always carried at least two blocks of C4, but he didn't know any explosives were in his bag when he returned to his post at Fort Bragg, N.C.
He said the bag had been in his garage since then and he didn't see any explosives in the main compartment when he packed for his trip to Texas.
Atwater was also detained at the Fayetteville airport on December 24 when security agents found a military smoke grenade in his carry-on bag. Court documents don't specify - and transportation officials wouldn't say on Tuesday - whether investigators now suspect C4 was in Atwater's bag then or whether he acquired it later.
After the smoke grenade was confiscated, Atwater was "admonished" and allowed to fly to Texas, court documents said. He and his family were returning home when he was stopped at Midland International Airport.
Trey Scott Atwater, of Hope Mills, North Carolina, was arrested on Saturday while trying to go through security at an airport in Texas where he was planning to fly back home.
Authorities say the 30-year-old had a carry-on bag containing C4, a powerful explosive used in Iraq and Afghanistan to blow the hinges off doors or destroy unexploded ordinance.
According to court documents, Atwater told the FBI he is a demolitions expert who returned from his third deployment to Afghanistan in April. He said his Army special forces team always carried at least two blocks of C4, but he didn't know any explosives were in his bag when he returned to his post at Fort Bragg, N.C.
He said the bag had been in his garage since then and he didn't see any explosives in the main compartment when he packed for his trip to Texas.
Atwater was also detained at the Fayetteville airport on December 24 when security agents found a military smoke grenade in his carry-on bag. Court documents don't specify - and transportation officials wouldn't say on Tuesday - whether investigators now suspect C4 was in Atwater's bag then or whether he acquired it later.
After the smoke grenade was confiscated, Atwater was "admonished" and allowed to fly to Texas, court documents said. He and his family were returning home when he was stopped at Midland International Airport.
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