New York
An Air France co-pilot was arrested after allegedly joking to an airport screener that he had a bomb in his shoe. “We have zero tolerance for those kinds of comments,” a federal safety official said. The pilot, Philippe Rivere, has been released on bail. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. Security officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport searched Rivere, 51, and the jet, and found no explosives. Still, they canceled the Paris-bound flight, which had 350 passengers aboard. Security officials have regularly checked passengers’ shoes since December 2001, when Richard Reid, a British citizen, was caught trying to ignite explosives in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami. He is now serving life in prison.
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