ORLANDO (CMC):

A Jamaican man arrested in Florida last month for attempting to carry pipe-bomb components onto a flight has been ordered by a federal judge to be held without bail until trial.

United States Magistrate Karla Spaulding said Kevin Christopher Brown's possession of flammable and explosive nitro-methane in his luggage, his lack of financial or residential ties to central Florida and evidence that he was involuntarily admitted to a veterans affairs hospital for psychiatric problems, were key factors in her decision to detain him.

In a six-page ruling released Wednesday, Spaulding determined by "clear and convincing evidence" that no combination of bail conditions would protect the community or assure Brown's appearance in court.

Not completed explosives

At an hour-long hearing, defence lawyers Wayne Golding and Tim McClain argued that their client only possessed bomb components and not completed explosives that could have endangered passengers.

They also presented testimony from a brother and his stepmother who said Brown could reside with aunts or cousins in Orlando and that he was scheduled to inherit millions of dollars from his late mother's estate.

Psychiatrist Dev Chacko further testified that Brown had post-traumatic stress disorder and was not a threat to himself or the community as long as he took medication.

He added that in his opinion Brown was competent to stand trial.

Assistant US Attorney Vincent Citro and FBI Task Force Agent Kelly Boaz told the judge that Brown, an army ambulance driver in Iraq in 2003 and a logistics contractor there last year, had a history of psychological problems.

Acting suspiciously

Brown, 32, was scheduled to fly to Montego Bay on an Air Jamaica flight on April 1, when transpor-tation security administration officers at the Orlando International Airport spotted him acting suspiciously and detained him.

He was searched and officers discovered two galvanised pipes, end caps, two small containers of BB pellets, batteries and two containers of liquid in his luggage. A laptop computer and bomb-making literature were also found in his backpack.

Last week, a US federal grand jury indicted Brown on one count of attempting to carry an explosive device on an aircraft.

Citro said in court documents that Brown was returning to his native Jamaica to get revenge against two men charged with strangling his mother, Sandra McLeod, a Jamaican hotelier in June 2005. Both suspects in her murder are out on bail.