Jet Traveler Detained for Bomb Comment

NEW YORK — One man was handcuffed and all passengers were removed from a Continental airplane awaiting takeoff from La Guardia Airport on Thursday in what turned out to be a groundless threat, authorities said.

A 55-year-old man was questioned by authorities about the incident aboard the Boeing 727. After he was handcuffed and taken to a police car, all passengers and their luggage were taken off the plane and it was searched.

The handcuffed man had been carrying a large radio-cassette player, often called a boom box.

“The stewardess said he said there was a bomb in his boom box he had carried on board,” said Allen Morrison, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “He claims he said: ‘They X-rayed it so much, what do they think, there’s a bomb in it?’ ”