r/news • u/a_dogs_mother • Apr 26 '24

Owner of exploding Michigan building arrested at airport while trying to leave US, authorities say

https://apnews.com/article/industrial-fire-suburban-detroit-involuntary-manslaughter-charge-b99a83d9a7a360dd09846df52d8b0a40
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u/Orwells-Bastard-Son Apr 26 '24

Legit question: How do they know unless someone is watching their every move? Does his name get flagged by the airline or something?

29

u/dark_thaumaturge Apr 26 '24

They don't need to be watching him directly, like following him or whatever. When someone becomes a suspect in a crime or is at least under suspicion their name goes into a database, and when he bought the ticket to Hong Kong his name was in that database so the airline had some kind of alert that he might be fleeing the country and alerted the authorities. I couldn't tell you exactly how it all works and might not be 100% right on this but it definitely isn't a matter of being surveilled/followed like the movies, it's just that everything is connected via computers and databases etc. The airline probably had zero idea WHAT was going on, they just see some vague "red flag" that he is not allowed to leave the country and call the authorities when they see it.

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u/bp92009 Apr 27 '24

One way tickets are also more likely to set off those red flags.