US law enforcement officials said on Tuesday that they believed that two Yemeni men detained in Amsterdam after unusual items were found in their luggage have no connection to terrorism, though they remained in Dutch custody and investigators continued to review the case.
The two men, US residents identified by Dutch authorities as Ahmad Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi, 48, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Hezem al-Murisi, 37, of Memphis, Tennessee, missed their flight on Sunday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago after the gate was changed, federal officials said.
They caught a different flight, but some of their baggage had already been loaded onto the flight they missed, including some items that had been taped together and attracted attention from airport screeners. Though no explosives were found, investigators considered the possibility that the men might be conducting a test run for a terrorist attack, officials said.
By Tuesday, that possibility was all but ruled out. Neither man was on any terror watch list or had any known history of militancy.
A law enforcement official, speaking of the investigation on condition of anonymity said news accounts of the episode, set off by a report by ABC News on Monday night, had made a media sensation of what was really routine checking by counter-terrorism investigators.
A US intelligence official said that while investigators were exercising “due diligence to see where the investigation takes us,” they did not believe the two men were involved in a terrorist plot.
Dutch prosecutors said Soofi and Murisi were still being questioned on Tuesday. However, a Dutch official said on Tuesday that investigators in Amsterdam had found no evidence of wrongdoing and that the men could be freed yesterday.
A search of Soofi by airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama, as he waited to board a flight to Chicago on Sunday found that he was carrying US$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 bag also contained pill bottles, a box cutter and three large knives, according to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report.
None of the items violated the restrictions for checked luggage, and Soofi was allowed to fly to Chicago. However, the unusual taping of items led to the later inquiry, officials said.
After missing their connection in Chicago, both Soofi and Murisi were rebooked on United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam. They intended to fly on to Yemen, but were removed from the plane by Dutch security officers, who had been alerted by US counterparts to the possibility that the men were testing the aviation security system.
Meanwhile, the unaccompanied luggage flew without its owners from Chicago to Dulles International Airport outside Washington — not a violation of aviation rules on a domestic flight, security officials said. It was removed for further inspection and testing at Dulles, according to TSA documents.
Imad Hamad, Michigan director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he had spoken with several relatives and friends of the detained men and believed they would be proven innocent. He said many Yemenis living in the US travel home at this time of year to stay with relatives and celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“People tend to take lots of gifts — cellphones, cameras, even basic medications,” Hamad said. “Different people have different ways of packaging or grouping their gifts together.”
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