BREAKING: Fighter Jets escorted Air France Flight 22 to NYC today, following an anonymous phone call about a chemical weapon stashed onboard the passenger plane.
The tip was called in around 7 a.m. on an untraceable telephone line, according to an unnamed federal official who fielded questions about the incident from ABC News reporters.
He says, although the threat “was not credible,” two F15s were discreetly deployed to intercept the aircraft and accompany it to New York's busy JFK airport in a manner not visible to its passengers and crew.
The unknown caller reportedly told Maryland State Police dispatchers that four American planes in all had been rigged with chemical explosive devices this morning, but apparently just Air France’s Flight 22 was specifically referenced.
Upon landing on the tarmac a short while ago, that plane was immediately taken to an isolated area at JFK known as the "hijack site" where it remains in lockdown until the search and inquiry is completed.
So far, however, nothing suspicious has been discovered on the Airbus A-330, which was en route from Paris to New York when the mysterious warnings were made.
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