Rapid Response from Airborne Assets Allows Efficient Arrest of Operator

A Pennsylvania man has received a sentence of 1 year in prison with 3 years of probation in addition to a $1,000 fine for his use of a laser on a police helicopter flying above. 

Last December the defendant, Raji Yusuf, a 36-year old already under supervised release, used a "high intensity green laser" to illuminate a police helicopter in flight near Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The cockpit was struck multiple times, temporarily blinding the pilots. After readjusting their vision, they homed in on Yusuf and found him in the parking lot of a mall below. The airborne officers caught him in the flood light from above, and ground responders arrived to arrest him once again. Yusuf was already under federal supervision for a 2016 conviction for trafficking firearms. 

The sentence comes after years of increasing laser activity on aircraft that have led the FAA and law enforcement at large hungry for high-visibility cases to make an example of. The rapid proliferation of imported, high-powered lasers has allowed punks and assorted ne'er do wells unprecedented freedom to cause problems and operational issues for airports, harming pilot vision and being almost indistinguishable from their surroundings the minute they deactivate their equipment. Yusuf's capture was only possible because of their rapid response time, and the fact that he continued to target the airborne crew from a wide, coverless parking lot. The FBI is grateful for his naiveté.

“There is a reason that aiming a laser at an aircraft is a federal offense – the consequences for those onboard and anyone in the vicinity could be disastrous,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Let this be a warning to anyone who might consider trying something similar: you could face serious federal prison time as a result.”

“Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft risks the safety of those onboard, as well as people on the ground. If a pilot’s vision is compromised, it could prove disastrous,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Mr. Yusuf made an extraordinarily bad decision — and did so while on federal supervision for his previous offense. This sentence not only holds him appropriately accountable, it shows how seriously we take it when someone uses a laser pointer in such a reckless and risky way.”

FMI: www.justice.gov