A US Air Mashal is in quarantine in Houston today after being allegedly
attacked yesterday by an unknown assailant at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos, wielding a syringe.
U.S. law
enforcement officials told us they were alarmed by the bizarre,
unprovoked attack because the assailant was apparently able to inject an
unknown substance into the back of one of the air marshal’s arms. The
air marshal was traveling with a team of other marshals when the attack
took place in an unsecured area of the airport terminal in Lagos, the
officials said. He was able to board the United Airlines flight to
Houston he was scheduled to work and was met early this morning in
Houston by FBI agents and health workers from the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC). Continue Amid fears the substance could contain some form
of the Ebola virus, the air marshal was immediately put into
quarantine.
The FBI said he was screened “on-scene… out of an abundance of caution.” An FBI spokesperson said,
“The
victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight and was
transported to a hospital upon landing for further testing. None of the
testing conducted has indicated a danger to other passengers.”
Health
experts say most infectious agents would not immediately manifest or
make the patient contagious. While the unknown assailant ran away and
could not be located, officials said the other air marshals on the team
were able to secure the needle and bring it on the flight for testing in
the U.S.
U.S. air marshals travel undercover in plain clothes
and it would not be immediately obvious to an attacker that his target
was an American law enforcement agent, officials say.
“While there
is no immediate intelligence to confirm this was a targeted attack,
this is our reminder that international cowards will attempt to take
sneaky lethal shots at our honorable men and women abroad,” said Jon Adler, the national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.
Tuesday 9 September 2014
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