You think a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, a knife and box cutter are incriminating. The New York Times thinks these guys are just swell...
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Terrorist Ties Doubted in Amsterdam Arrests
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: August 31, 2010
WASHINGTON — 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.
The American officials spoke as Dutch prosecutors said the two men, both Yemeni citizens, remained in custody “on suspicion of a conspiracy to a terrorist criminal act.” Prosecutors said it might be several days before a decision is made to charge or release them.
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.
nytimes.com |
