U.S.: Airline Scare Likely Not a Terror Plot

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

U.S. Official Says Men with Suspicious Luggage Don't Appear to Have Been Rehearsing Plot, but Dutch Still Consider Charges

(CBS/AP) Updated 11:06 a.m. ET

A U.S. government official says the FBI's investigation of two men detained in Amsterdam is finding that it is unlikely they were on a test run for a future terror attack, even as Dutch authorities continued to hold the pair on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

The U.S. official says the two men arrested in Amsterdam did not know each other and were not traveling together.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, says both men missed flights to Washington from Chicago, and United Airlines then booked them on the same flight to Amsterdam.

Another U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, says that when Customs officials discovered one passenger was not on the flight from Washington to Dubai, they called the plane back to the gate and removed his luggage. It was then they discovered suspicious items in his bag.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/31/national/main6822403.shtml?tag=stack

[Drops_not_Dope]

1. I smell propaganda

somewhere here.

[uppityperson]

2. I thought checkers in an earlier flight discovered the articles but let them through

because they were deemed not a threat until the bags and man were on different flights later. I wonder if the 2 tsa/airports didn't talk until later.

[Hawkowl]

3. This is absolute bullshit

The US government appears to be once again covering up something so as to not scare away "consumers". This very much was a security problem. I am very glad they called the plane back and pulled the bag. This is standard operating procedure and a basic fundamental security practice.

I'm glad the Dutch have these people in custody. I would trust the Federal Bureau of Intimidation as far as I could throw them.

[liberal N proud]

4. Somethings rotten in Denmark!

Those cell phones tape together and to pepto bottles was for fun then?

[mike r]

5. Terrorist Ties Doubted in Amsterdam Arrests

Source: New York Times

American law enforcement and aviation security officials said Tuesday they thought it highly unlikely that two United States residents of Yemeni descent detained in Amsterdam on Monday had any connection to terrorism, though they were continuing to review what initially appeared to be a suspicious chain of events.

The two men, identified by Dutch authorities as Ahmad Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi, 48, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Hezem al-Murisi, 37, of Memphis, missed their flight on Sunday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after the gate was changed, the officials said. Some of their baggage had already been loaded on the flight they missed, including some unusual taped-together items that had attracted attention from airport screeners earlier. “You go into these situations with an open mind, but the facts never really supported a suspicion of terrorism,” said one law enforcement official, speaking of the continuing investigation on condition of anonymity. He said news accounts of the detentions, set off by an initial report by ABC News on Monday night, had made a sensation of what was really routine checking by counterterrorism investigators...

A search of Mr. Soofi by airport security screeners in Birmingham, Ala., as he waited to board a flight to Chicago on Sunday found that he was carrying $7,000 in cash and that his luggage contained a cellphone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, three cellphones taped together and several watches taped together, officials said. “The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves,” said Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, and Mr. Soofi was permitted to fly on to Chicago. Investigators later considered the possibility that the objects might have been part of a test run for a terrorist plot.

But Omar Sufi of Detroit, who said he was a cousin of Mr. Soofi, said his relative’s actions did not sound unusual. He said that his cousin had most likely been trying to take medication and phones back to his family, and that it was common to bind together items meant for the same recipient. “This is our culture,” he said. He described his cousin as “a nice guy” who worked as a cashier in Alabama and spoke little English. After missing their connection in Chicago, both Mr. Soofi and Mr. Murisi were rebooked on United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam. They evidently intended to fly on to Yemen but were removed from the plane by Dutch security officers when it landed.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/europe/01plane.html

[slackmaster]

6. K&R for nice use of alliteration in the subject line

Not overstated, just enough to give it a charming lilt.

:kick:

[dipsydoodle]

7. Now been charged

with having funny names and dusky appearance.

[Mz Pip]

8. That's just weird

Why would anyone tape a cell phone to a bottle of Pepto Bismol?

I'm not surprised that seeing something like that through the scanner at airport security might raise suspicions.

[herbm]

9. Why is it always the egg broken to make a security omlet personal freedom????