BOSTON (AP) — Model airplanes are suddenly on the public’s radar as potential terrorist weapons.
A Muslim American from suburban Boston was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives.
These are not simple wooden toys investigators are talking about. The FBI says 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus hoped to use military-jet replicas guided by GPS devices and capable of speeds above 100 mph.
Federal officials have long been aware of the possibility someone might try to use such planes as weapons, but there are no restrictions on their purchase. And experts and hobbyists say it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage with model planes.
