Authorities probe incidents near Air Force base

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Authorities were searching for two men who tried to gain access to Scott Air Force Base shortly before noon Friday.

Later in the afternoon, military and law enforcement officers investigated an apparently unrelated report of people trying to take pictures of the base from an area under the Illinois 158 overpass on the west side of the base.

According to an Illinois State Police radio broadcast, two Middle Eastern-looking men, each about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 200 pounds, tried enter Scott about 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Shiloh gate.

Lt. Ashley Hunn, a public information officer for the base, said the men were turned away because they lacked proper credentials.

After being turned away, the men went to a nearby strip mall, where they asked an airman how to get onto the base, Hunn said. The airman told them to talk to security forces. The men then got into a rented car and headed toward Shiloh, Illinois State Police reported in the radio broadcast.

At 2:15 p.m., a police radio broadcast from the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department indicated security personnel from the base needed county assistance after they caught people trying to take pictures of the base.

Sheriff's deputies, Shiloh Police, FBI agents and Scott Air Force Base personnel were gathered at a construction site near the overpass Friday afternoon.

Hunn said she was not aware of any arrests in either case.