A “shoe bomber” scare last night on a flight from Washington to Denver sent fighter jets scrambling and triggered an alert to President Obama aboard Air Force One – but it turned out to be nothing more than a Qatari diplomat sneaking a smoke in the bathroom.
Mohammed al Modadi, 27,was initially thought to be a Richard Reid wannabe, but he carried no explosives and meant no harm, officials said.
The comedy of errors on United Flight 663 began 30 minutes before landing when an air marshal smelled smoke coming from a restroom and confronted the diplomat, who was exiting.
According to one account, the marshal understood the diplomat to say, “I’m lighting my shoes on fire.”
It’s believed the diplomat was either misunderstood because of language problems – or making a very stupid joke.
It also likely, sources said, that like a schoolboy caught with a cigarette in the stairwell, he admitted he was smoking where he shouldn’t have been and had been trying to put it out on his shoe.
But no explosives were found on his shoes or clothing – but everything he was wearing will be re-tested to make certain, sources said.
The man, who was restrained by the marshal and taken off the plane in handcuffs, was being questioned in Denver, but a source said he’d likely be released.
Before it was determined that al Modadi was no menace, Obama, en route to Prague, was briefed.
Scott Smith, one of the 157 passengers on the United flight, said, “The approach into Denver was unusual. We came in rather fast, and we were flying low for a long period of time. I’ve never seen a jetliner do that.
“There were no announcements, nothing about your carry-on bags or tray tables.”
Once on the ground, Smith said, the pilot announced that “we have a situation here on the plane.”
“We sat there for a long time, almost an hour,” Smith said.
Just three months after 9/11, Reid, a confessed al-Qaeda member, tried to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami by setting off plastic explosives hidden in his shoes.
Quick-acting passengers and the flight crew wrestled him to the ground.
In another chilling attempted attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab last Christmas tried to blow up an Amsterdam-to-Detroit jet with a bomb strapped to his crotch, but managed only to set his pants on fire.
The 23-year-old Nigerian told authorities he was ordered by al-Qaeda to destroy a jet over the United States.
His plans also were thwarted when passengers tackled him.
With AP
jennifer.fermino@nypost.com