United Airlines flight lands safely after passenger claims bomb, tries to breach cockpit

A passenger on a United Airlines flight from Newark to New Orleans was arrested after allegedly claiming to have a bomb and attempting to enter the cockpit. The flight landed safely with 46 passengers and 6 crew aboard.

An unusual drama unfolded on Monday on a domestic United Airlines flight from New Jersey to New Orleans, after a passenger from Honduras, who is in the US illegally, allegedly tried to break into the cockpit and declared he had a bomb. A hijacking alert was triggered, but the plane landed safely and the suspect was arrested. The suspect, Rony Adam Gomez-Alberto, had been deported twice from the US before, was arrested again for illegal entry, and was released from custody in 2020. Following the incident, immigration authorities filed a request to detain him. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said: "Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, illegal criminal immigrants are not welcome in the United States."