A Jamaican accused of trying to check a bag containing pipe bomb-making materials onto a plane told the FBI he wanted to show friends how to build explosives like he saw in Iraq, according to documents released Wednesday.
The FBI was still trying to determine whether Kevin Brown was ever in Iraq. Investigators noted he first told them he wanted to detonate the materials on a tree stump in Jamaica.
Brown did not speak at a brief court hearing Wednesday where he was ordered held without bail while prosecutors reviewed his mental health records.
Brown, 32, was arrested Tuesday at Orlando International Airport after checking luggage for an Air Jamaica flight. Transportation Security Administration behavior experts spotted him acting suspiciously in the ticketing area, and so investigators searched his baggage and found the unassembled bomb-making materials, authorities said.
Clarence Counts, Brown's court-appointed public defender, declined to comment as he prepared for a formal bond hearing Thursday.
The FBI said TSA officials searched Brown's checked luggage before it was put on the plane. It had two glass vodka bottles containing nitromethane, a colorless liquid used as a fuel for drag racing, in manufacturing and as a cleaning solvent. Brown said he had hoped the liquor bottles would disguise the nitromethane, the FBI said in a court filing.
The baggage also had a model rocket ignitor, galvanized pipes, end caps, two small containers containing BBs, batteries, a laptop and instructions on how to make bombs, the FBI stated in court papers.
Brown is charged with one count of attempting to carry an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft. The FBI believed his most recent address was in Gainesville.
Passengers were briefly cleared out of the ticketing area where Brown checked in for a flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica. A bomb squad arrived, and investigators in protective suits searched Brown on the sidewalk outside the Air Jamaica counter.
Some Orlando International Airport flights were delayed up to two hours, spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said.
Air Jamaica executive director Shirley Williams said the items could not have caused an explosion and the aircraft and its passengers were never at risk.
Jamaica's prime minister has ordered the Jamaica Constabulary Force to conduct is own investigation into Brown's activities in that country.
The FBI said it believed Brown was in the United States legally.