WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Four Canadian and U.S. fighter jets were dispatched Friday to escort a civilian aircraft with suspicious cargo, the U.S. military said.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement it had diverted two Canadian CF-18s to track the aircraft as it flew into and over Canadian airspace, then had the civilian aircraft picked up by two U.S. F-15s as it entered U.S. airspace.
The plane's ultimate destination was John F. Kennedy International Airport, NORAD said.
NORAD said it ordered the military escort "out of an abundance of caution."
The action came as two suspicious packages containing explosive material shipped from Yemen and addressed to Chicago synagogues were intercepted at airports in Birmingham, England, and the United Arab Emirates Thursday. The discovery led to searches of planes at Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia, as well as searches of UPS trucks in New York.
