Terror scare shutdown 'was racist'

A Pakistani woman whose daughter's carry-on luggage caused an airport to shut down for more than nine hours says it was her ethnic background, not a few bottles of suspicious liquids, that set off security officials.

Initial laboratory testing by the FBI turned up no evidence of explosive materials in the bottles carried at Tri-State Airport in West Virginia by Rima Qayyum, a 28-year-old Pakistani woman dressed in the traditional Islamic headcover.

No charges were filed against the woman, who was never detained and was co-operative when interviewed by the FBI.

Qayyum's mother, Mian Qayyum of Jackson, Michigan, said that her daughter is four months pregnant, lives in Barboursville and is innocent.

"It was not only a false alarm, it was racial discrimination because there was nothing," Mian Qayyum said. "They should clear her name and apologise on national TV."

The FBI did not return messages seeking comment on the allegations.

A screener noticed a bottle in Rima Qayyum's carry-on bag as she was going through security before her flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, airport authority president Jim Booton said.

The terminal was evacuated after two bottles of liquid in the bag initially tested positive for explosives residue twice, and a canine team also got a positive hit. Chemical tests of the bottles' contents later turned up no explosives, said Capt. Jack Chambers, head of the State Police Special Operations unit.

The woman had purchased a one-way ticket to Detroit by way of Charlotte on Wednesday. The flight eventually left for Charlotte without her.

The FBI plans to perform additional tests on the bottles.