Passenger subdued on Hong Kong-Newark flight

NEWARK -- A man loudly ranted about national security, the CIA and international spying aboard a flight from Hong Kong to Newark on Monday, causing passengers to tackle him and bind his hands and feet for the duration of the flight.

The FBI met United Airlines Flight 116 as it landed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday around 1:30 p.m., passengers said, and escorted the man off the airliner.

The man's name has not been released but passengers described him as American.

Passengers said he started screaming about nine hours into the 15-hour flight about being afraid of the FBI and fearing he was going to be killed. He asked that the flight be diverted to Canada.

"He was clearly not stable," said passenger Jacques Roizen of New York, who helped wrestle the man to the cabin floor and sat in the same row as him after he was handcuffed.

Roizen said he and other passengers and a flight attendant jumped on the man and subdued him when he started reaching for his pockets.

United said it followed its procedures for dealing with disruptive passengers and decided to continue the flight as scheduled.

Passenger Peter Jones of Washington said the agitated man called out what he said was his name, birth date and his Social Security number several times, and claimed he worked for the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Jones said the man claimed to have information about Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who revealed a once-secret National Security Agency surveillance programs two weeks ago.

Jones said he never heard the man threaten passengers or the plane.