Dutch police have arrested 12 passengers after a US flight en route to India had to return to Amsterdam because of a security alert. The pilot turned back over German airspace after the crew said a number of passengers on the flight to Mumbai (Bombay) were behaving suspiciously.
Flight 42 returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport "after several passengers displayed behavior of concern," Northwest Airlines said in a written statement.Some of the passengers pulled out cell phones during the flight and appeared to be trying to pass the cell phones to other passengers, a U.S. government official said.In addition, some passengers unfastened their seatbelts while the light requiring they be fastened was still illuminated, the official said.
That was enough for U.S. air marshals aboard the DC-10 to break their cover. Flight attendants ordered the passengers to heed the orders of the marshals, the official added. Two Dutch air force jets escorted the the Northwest Airlines plane back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Police are questioning other passengers and crew members. Naturally it was a false alarm.
Only e few days ago British tourists knocked out an Arabian couple out of there plane, because they were looking suspicious. The terrorists have won, we are afraid.
Security levels at airports across the world were raised two weeks ago after British police said they had foiled a plot to blow up a number of trans-Atlantic flights. Several security alerts since then have seen flights diverted, passengers removed or planes searched.
The Dutch secret service said in March that the Iraq war and the presence of Dutch troops in Afghanistan could motivate possible attacks and encourage the recruitment of Islamist militants in the Netherlands.
Earlier this year, a Dutch court convicted nine Muslims of belonging to a terrorist group and planning to attack politicians.
In June 2005, a Dutch court sentenced a 27-year-old radical Islamist to life in prison for murdering the controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh the previous year.
