BROOKLINE, Mass. -- A Vermont woman whose disruptive behavior prompted a London-to-Washington D.C., airplane to be diverted to Boston will be in court Thursday morning facing federal charges.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the woman, being held at the Brookline police station may have ties to Pakistan.

Passengers on United Airlines flight 923 out of Heathrow Airport said the woman was muttering incoherently on the flight and was carrying a very large bag which contained several banned items, including a screwdriver and some lotion. She also allegedly told a fellow passenger that she was a reporter.

"She showed a lighter and was like, 'They let me bring this on the plane. I'm a journalist, and I'm going to try to sneak stuff on the plane,'" passenger Matthew Bolton said.

That account was unconfirmed by authorities, but NewsCenter 5 learned there was a Catherine Mayo from Vermont who wrote for the Daily Times of Pakistan in 2003. The woman who was arrested is a U.S. citizen, authorities said.

Midflight, passengers said the 59-year-old woman was pacing the aisles and making many trips to the bathroom.

"She was always walking up and down the corridors, locking herself in the bathroom, and apparently she was passing notes to the captain," passenger Matthew Bailey said.

After she pulled her pants down, an air marshal and a corrections officer tackled her, threw her into the bathroom door and handcuffed her, passengers said.

"She got wrestled to the floor in the galley area," Bailey said.

The disturbance prompted the pilot to issue an alert and that activated two fighter jets from Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod which escorted the plane to Logan International Airport.

The plane, carrying 182 passengers and 12 crew landed safely. Their luggage was spread out on the tarmac and checked.

Officials said the incident was not terror related. The woman was arrested on charges of interfering with a flight crew.

The situation followed British arrests last week of 20 people in connection with a foiled plan to blow up airliners headed from Britain to the U.S.