Posted on 08/25/2006 4:35:12 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
AMSTERDAM/MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: An edgy Dutch security apparatus, after creating the impression of a foiled terror plot when it arrested 12 Indian on Wednesday following the return of a Northwest Airlines flight to Amsterdam, late on Thursday night brought the curtains down on the high-voltage drama by releasing all of them.
The 12 held were all Muslims, most of them Bohra Muslims from Mumbai. Their irrational exuberance during takeoff — when they reportedly talked on mobile phones and exchanged them around — seems to have aroused the suspicion of the air marshals.
The moral of the story: there is currently zero tolerance for any out-of-line behaviour in the air. Questions are also being raised about security profiling on the basis of race and religion.
It appears the alarm was triggerred also by the fact that some among the detained dozen sported beards, wore salwar-kameez and spoke in Urdu.
In days to come, this high-profile episode is certain to generate a debate on questionable biases in terror-combat operations.
Earlier on Thursday in Amsterdam, a spokeswoman for the national anti-terrorism office, speaking for Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, said, "So far there are no signs this was a terrorist threat".
In New Delhi, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma told reporters that "the information we received says that they have been arrested for flight disruption and not terrorist acts".
From their names, a number of the 12 detained seem to be Bohra Muslims of Mumbai.
Somebody 'splain to me why it was "questionable".
Cheese, the way this thing is written you'd think this was a little theater group.
Just a group of young Muslims pretending to be terrorists now doubt. They really didn't mean anything by it. They would have burned a car or two, but the French Yuutz beat them to it. /s
It's not surprising the Dutch police released them. The Dutch hardly ever put/keep people in jail except in cases of extreme violence. We lived in a Christian community on a houseboat in Amsterdam during the 80's. We caught two guys breaking in and when the police arrived, they thanked us, walked down the pier and released the pair as soon as they hit the street! Explanation: They hadn't stolen anything yet!
maybe they will be successful next time.
my guess is the passengers miss understood the shouts of allahakbar, it was just jubelation that they were going home, not a warcry. you know how inseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeensative white europeans can be to people of color.
/liberal off
No Muslim from anywhere should be unchallenged on any flight to or from a non-Muslim location. Touch the pork should be part of the screening process (Jews can touch it, they just can't EAT it!).
OOOhhh! An idea...all U.S. airline seat covers to be pigskin leather from now on!
My hog farmin' friends here in NC appreciate that suggestion. And don't forget the lavs. Pigskin upholstered walls, etc. Upholster the seats in the waiting areas of the airports. Wow... what a great idea.
They also could have been pushing buttons just to see what would happen if they all pulled out their cell phones, etc. Didn't something like this happen sometime after 9/11 on a domestic flight in the USA and a bunch of Islamofascists stood up and started to approach to front of the plane and alarmed the staff? I believe this women reported this incident. I thought most thought it was staging just to see what the reaction would be.
I don't trust em and I think the dutch authorities are useless.
Yes, it's a form of "non-violent" terrorism, in that it does strike fear into the hearts of the other passengers. Mission accomplished without so much as one throat slit.
You could be right...but, it's just that muslems from India have not YET been implicated in any terror activity anywhere (outside of India). That being said, I was on a flight from DFW to LON...and I was scared throughout the flight...even a grandma going to pee in the loo scared the bezebers out of me...anybody can be bought...you know...
Yep, I think the terrorists will evolve into something other the typical. I thought I heard something about screening mothers who carried formula on to planes after the announcement that this London/USA plot was uncovered. Weren't they asking mothers to take a sip out of babies formula before they brought it on the plane? Can you imagine a mother blowing herself and her child up? This is insane.
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