A Northern California man tried to pass through a security checkpoint at Sacramento International Airport with an explosive device and several other items in his carry-on bag, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Kimani Osayande Jones, also known as Kimani Osayande Jackson, 49, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with unlawfully possessing explosive material, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said.
According to court documents, Jones tried to go through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint about 9 p.m. Saturday while wearing a scarf over his face and latex gloves. He was attempting to board a flight, prosecutors said.
Inside his carry-on bag, authorities found an M-type explosive device and a torch lighter capable of lighting it, along with a knife, scissors, scissor blades, an aerosol can and zip ties, prosecutors said.
Jones also had five cellphones, including one with a 15-minute timer ready to start, prosecutors said. Another phone displayed a message from an unidentified number that said, “we will be awaiting your call,” according to prosecutors.
Jones, a resident of Sacramento, was arrested, and the device was safely removed by Sacramento County sheriff’s bomb technicians and an FBI special agent bomb technician, prosecutors said.
The device was later tested, and its “powder and fuse were determined to be viable and energetic,” prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the device could have caused injury and, if detonated next to a window on a pressurized aircraft flying above 10,000 feet, could have damaged the aircraft and possibly caused a loss of cabin pressure.
The FBI and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
If convicted, Jones faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence would be determined by a federal court.
Prosecutors did not identify the airline, destination or a possible motive.