Former TSA screener arrested for suspected LAX threats

A former Transportation Security Administrationscreener suspected of making threats to terminals at Los Angeles InternationalAirport was in custody today following his arrest in Riverside, authoritiessaid.

Nna Alpha Onuoha, 29, of Inglewood was arrested just before midnightTuesday by members of the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force withassistance from the Riverside Police Department, said Los Angeles-based FBIspokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

It was not immediately clear why the man went to Riverside.Officers arrested Onuoha in van that was parked in the parking lot ofthe Harvest Church, at Adams Street and Arlington Avenue, said Riverside policeLt. Guy Toussaint. The parking lot is near Riverside Airport. A bomb squadsearched the van and the parking lot, and the area was determined to be safe,Toussaint said.

Onuoha Tuesday resigned from the TSA, which had employed him since 2006,Eimiller said, adding without elaboration that he had recently been suspendedfrom his job.

After he resigned, Onuoha allegedly left a package at the TSA’s LAXheadquarters addressed to an agency employee, Eimiller said in a statementissued early this morning.

A Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad determined the package washarmless, but it did contain an eight-page letter in which Onuoha wrote aboutthe incident that led to his suspension and expressed “his disdain for theUnited States,” she said.

“Later in the day, a male believed to be Onuoha telephonicallycontacted the TSA, instructing an employee to `begin evacuating certainterminals at the airport,”’ Eimiller said. “The caller told the employee thathe would `be watching’ to see if TSA was evacuating the terminals as heinstructed.”

Another call was received by the TSA, again believed to have been fromOnuoha, saying that specific LAX terminals should be evacuated, she said.

“The terminals in question were cleared by law enforcement personneland no threat to the airport was found,” Eimiller said.

Members of the JTTF then went to Onuoha’s apartment, which they foundempty except for a note taped inside a closet “containing an unspecifiedthreat citing the 9/11/13 anniversary,” she said.

Onuoha was later arrested and was being held on suspicion of makingthreats, pending further investigation, Eimiller said.