New York: A Chinese student`s resolve to
sneak past a check-post and give his girlfriend a goodbye kiss
led to last week`s closure of the Newark airport for hours,
stranding thousands of passengers at the end of a holiday
weekend.
Airport authorities said they identified Haisong Jiang as
responsible for the security breach incident by going through
surveillance tapes and photos of license plates of vehicles in
the airport parking lot.
A security video showed a man wearing a light-coloured
jacket, slipping under the rope, walking the wrong side, and
kissing a woman before walking away with her towards the
boarding area.
The couple can be seen leaving arm-in-arm following which
about 100 flights were cancelled.
New Jersey police have temporarily taken Jiang into
custody. The 28-year-old post doctoral fellow in bioscience
at Rutgers University was tracked down by cops to his house
and would be charged with defiant trespass.
His girlfriend, Ning Huang, is a 33-year-old former
Rutgers graduate student who now lives in Los Angeles.
"This is a case far more important than is obvious.
Authorities picked up a person with a pedigree and an
education who did something very stupid. What he did was a
terrible injustice to thousands of people," said Senator Frank
Lautenberg of New Jersey.
He said stronger charges may follow as it caused a great
deal of inconvenience for over a thousand passengers due to
delayed flights and a great deal of lost money.
Last Sunday, thousands of passengers were stranded
as chaos ensued after a man walked to a secure area without
being screened.
Following the incident the terminal was cleared of
passengers and a second round of screening was done.
Jiang was able to duck security because security
official Ruben Hernandez left his post, according to the
Transport Security Administration officials who said he faces
disciplinary action.
PTI
