2ND Indians on diverted Schiphol-Mumbai flight released

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Thursday August 24, 2006

Amsterdam- The 12 Indian men arrested in the Netherlands in connection with an incident aboard a Northwest Airlines aircraft that made an emergency return to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport were released without charge Thursday, Justice Ministry officials said. The 12 were arrested after the aircraft returned to Schiphol at noon Wednesday, escorted by Dutch F-16 fighters.

The captain of the DC-10 on route from Schiphol to Mumbai turned the aircraft round half an hour into the flight, saying the men had behaved suspiciously.

Dutch Justice Ministry press officer Ed Hartjes said the 12 had done nothing seriously wrong, nor had they planned anything untoward.

Their mobile phones, laptop computers and other equipment had been inspected for explosives and detonators. The aircraft, which left for Mumbai Thursday morning, had also been inspected, he said.

The 12 had been held on suspicion of attempting an act of violence against an aircraft, Hartjes said.

All 12 were of Indian origin, India's NDTV news channel reported.

A list provided by the Indian embassy in Amsterdam to the Indian Foreign Ministry in New Delhi indicated all the detained people had been born in Mumbai but it was not clear whether they were all Indian citizens, NDTV said.

Shortly after take-off on Wednesday morning, the captain of the DC-10 spoke to ground control while over Germany, and the aircraft immediately returned to Schiphol.

The daily Telegraaf reported on the basis of comments from one of the passengers that two armed US air marshals had taken control following suspicious behaviour by a group of men.

Other reports said the crew reacted after a mobile telephone rang and the men cheered in response.

The Telegraaf said the two marshals had ordered passengers to remain in their seats after a group of passengers began fiddling with mobile phones and rummaging in their hand luggage.

Sarat Menon, an Indian passenger who works in Brussels and who sat next to the group, described them as aged 30-40 and "certainly not educated."

He added that four of the Urdu-speaking men had long beards and said they had been on holiday in Tobago.

After the marshals took over, they ordered passengers to "sit upright in their chairs ... We were not allowed to walk around or to go to the toilet."

Menon said the atmosphere had been calm throughout, but that there had been some tension on arrival back at Schiphol.

Analysts noted that the aircraft had parked normally among other aircraft, not on an isolated spot on the airport runway.

Normal border police had arrested the men, not a special anti- terrorism unit, and security arrangements at Dutch airports were not altered.

The Dutch national terrorism coordinator said through a spokesperson that no changes to the security level had been implemented.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur