A federal air marshall has been quarantined in Houston after he was injected with a syringe full of an unknown substance inside Lagos airport in Nigeria. The man reported the attack, which occurred in an unsecured, public area of the terminal, and the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating. The man was able to board United Flight 143 and landed in Houston early Monday morning where he was taken for medical testing.
According to ABC News, the man was standing with a group of other air marshals when an assailant injected an unknown substance into the back of one of his arms. The assailant ran off and could not be located after the attack. The federal air marshall, who has not been named, was immediately quarantined and screened on-scene for Ebola virus, ‘out of an abundance of caution,’ according to the FBI.
The federal air marshall did not immediately display any signs of ill health and was allowed to board the flight he was scheduled to work on. The syringe was recovered and also taken aboard the flight to be tested in the United States. U.S. federal air marshals travel incognito, so the assailant would not have been able to identify the victim as a U.S. federal law enforcement agent from his appearance.
‘While there is no immediate intelligence to confirm this was a targeted attack, this is our reminder that international cowards will attempt to take sneaky lethal shots at our honorable men and women abroad,’ Jon Adler, the national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said, reports ABC News.
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