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Sylvania woman strip searched and interrogated following 9/11 flight
Posted: 09.14.2011 at 12:01 AM
Angi Gonzalez

Angi is the evening anchor for WNWO at 6 and 11.

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Shoshana Hebshi of Sylvania says she was detained following a flight on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  / MSNBC
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LUCAS COUNTY (AP) -- A Sylvania woman says she was one of three people escorted off a plane, in handcuffs, on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

During an interview with the Associated Press, 35-year-old Shoshana Hebshi said she did not know the two "Indian men" she was detained with but says they were sitting in her row.

All three were on a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroit on Sunday afternoon when the crew reported suspicious activity on the plane.

Hebshi, a communications specialist, says she was strip-searched and interrogated at Detroit's Metro Airport "simply because" of her appearance.

The local mother describes herself as half-Arabic and half-Jewish and was able to give a partial account of what happened on the flight using her Twitter account.

Hebshi wrote, "Stuck on a plane at Detroit airport...cops everywhere. A little concerned about this situation. Plane moved away from terminal surrounded by cops. Crew is mum. Passengers can't get up. Cops in uniform and plainclothes in a huddle in rear of plane."

She says she was released from custody after being questioned by the FBI.

The FBI says it questioned Hebshi and released her after finding no reason to suspect her.

The AP left messages seeking comment from Frontier and airport police, but those calls were not immediately returned.

On Sunday, officials involved in the investigation initially told NBC News that they detained three people from the plane because two of them allegedly spent a suspicious amount of time in the bathroom.

Earlier, the same day, an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York was escorted to JFK airport amid similar reports of passengers spending too much time in the bathroom.

Did Hebshi deserve to be strip-searched? What would you have done in this situation? What are your concerns about air travel nowadays, if any? Weigh in below and on Facebook.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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