Posted on 08/24/2006 12:12:03 PM PDT by Quilla
HAARLEM, Netherlands — Prosecutors said Thursday they found no evidence of a terrorist threat aboard a Northwest Airlines flight to India that returned to Amsterdam, and they are releasing all 12 passengers arrested after the emergency landing.
The men, all Indian nationals, had aroused suspicions on Flight NW0042 to Bombay because they had a large number of cell phones, lap tops and hard drives, and refused to follow the crew's instructions, prosecutors said.
Because of those actions by the passengers, the pilot of the DC-10 radioed for help shortly after takeoff Wednesday and the plane was escorted back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport by two Dutch fighter jets. The 12 were arrested after the plane landed.
U.S. air marshals on the flight also were suspicious of the men, U.S. officials and passengers said.
"A thorough investigation of the cell phones in the plane found that the phones were not manipulated and no explosives were found on board the plane," said a statement from the prosecutor's office in Haarlem, which has jurisdiction over the airport.
"From the statements of the suspects and the witnesses, no evidence could be brought forward that these men were about to commit an act of violence," the statement said.
The men were to be released later Thursday from a dention center at the airport and free to leave the Netherlands, prosecution spokesman Ed Hartjes said.
The incident reflected the jitters that persist in the airline industry in the two weeks since British police revealed an alleged plot to blow up several U.S.-bound airliners simultaneously using bombs crafted from ordinary consumer goods.
Hartjes said the electronic equipment the suspects possessed could have been enough to trigger an explosion, and he defended the flight crew's response. "This was a correct reaction under the circumstances," he said.
In New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said he had no comment.
Hartjes said 11 of the men had been traveling together, catching a connecting flight in Amsterdam from a South American country that he refused to identify. The 12th aroused suspicion for other unspecified reasons, he said. He refused to give personal details about any of them.
Passengers described the men as between 25 and 35 years old and speaking Urdu, the language commonly spoken in Pakistan and by many of India's Muslims. Some had beards, and some wore a shalwar kameez, a long shirt and baggy pants commonly worn by South Asian Muslims.
The Algemeen Dagblad newspaper quoted an unidentified 31-year-old Dutch businessman as saying the suspects were walking up and down the isle after takeoff.
"I saw the air marshals walking, and then you know something's wrong," it quoted him as saying.
Nitin Patel of Boston, who sat behind the men, told the paper: "I don't know how close we were, but my gut tells me these people wanted to hijack the airplane."
The mass-circulation De Telegraaf reported that passenger Sarat Menon quoted the men as saying they were returning from a vacation in Tobago.
"It wasn't immediately clear what was going on. There was no panic. A flight attendant told us to remain seated and to follow the air marshals' orders," Menon said.
The Northwest captain radioed Amsterdam seeking permission to return with a military escort, and jet fighters were scrambled from a northern military air field.
The national anti-terrorism office said it saw no reason to raise the country's threat level.
In a recording of air control communications, the pilot declined an offer to put fire engines on standby for the unscheduled landing at Schiphol.
The security alert was the latest of several incidents reported since the alleged terrorism plot was revealed in London. On Friday, a British plane made an emergency landing in southern Italy after a bomb scare, and the U.S. Air Force scrambled jets to escort a United Airlines flight from London to Washington as it was diverted to Boston.
On Tuesday, a flight to New York from Atlanta was diverted to Charlotte, N.C., after a flight attendant found a bottle of water and then smelled something suspicious on the plane. Officials found nothing hazardous.
Test, test, test, check, check.......is this thing on?
they're going to regret that decision.
Lots of folks travel in groups of 12 young men from Tamil Nadu to Tobago for vacation. I don't know why people are so suspicious...
I may be totally off base, but I understood than electronic devices were banned along with liquids after the bomb plot was made public.
If true, and legal instructions -- why weren't the bastards jailed for that offense?
These 12 assholes should spend the rest of their life on a "no fly" list...
Semper Fi
< SNORT! >
"I may be totally off base, but I understood than electronic devices were banned along with liquids after the bomb plot was made public.
"
I don't think so. I can just imagine trying to ban cell phones on airline flights. It ain't happening.
Only in flights to/from Britain
Can you say "test run"?
Why did the plane return to Amsterdam? Wouldn't it have been easier for all of us to just to open the door in mid-flight and give these 12 weirdos the Shove?
It turns out they were just musicians.
Yea, Syrian musicians on their way to a gig in Vegas. That's the ticket.
Yet we had at least one freeper defending these 12 passengers, as though it was a GOOD thing the crew's instructions were being ignored. Some days, I just don't get people :-)
Shirley you jest. ;-)
I hope you aren't talking about me! Must I put a < /sarc> tag on everything?
It sounds like they were just a group of IT support guys with lots of gadgets going home after training.
I wish. LOL
Sadly, we seem to have more than a few unsuspicious freepers. I myself am HIGHLY suspicious. Hah.
LOL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.