Two passengers held amid fears of terrorist plot

Mystery surrounds the detention in Amsterdam yesterday of two United States residents of Yemeni descent. Were they on a dry run for a terrorist bombing mission? And how did did they get this far before security officials stepped in?

One of the men, named as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi, and understood to live somewhere in Detroit, was first red-flagged on Sunday by security officials in Birmingham, Alabama from where he was flying to Chicago.

Al-Soofi was stopped at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth airport because he was wearing a bulky coat. He was carrying $7,000 in cash. His checked-in luggage was examined and was found to contain a cellphone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and three cellphones taped together. There was also a box-cutter and several watches taped together.

However, because no explosives were discovered, the 48-year-old man was cleared to fly to Chicago's O'Hare airport. There, he met up with 37-year-old Hezam al-Murisi and both men were allowed to board United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam.

At this stage, airport officials discovered that al-Soofi had not checked his bags through to Amsterdam where he was now heading - but on a series of flights via Washington DC, Dubai and on to Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.

The first leg of the baggage's journey was already over. At Dulles airport, Washington, the plane leaving for Dubai was called back to the gate and al-Soofi's bag retrieved.

In a statement issued yesterday, the US Department of Homeland Security said it had informed Dutch authorities that two men flying to Amsterdam had packed "suspicious items" in their luggage but did not stop them flying because they had nothing illegal in their carry-on bags.

"The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves and as we share information with our international partners, Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items," the statement said.

At Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, officials said the two men had been detained at the request of US authorities "on the basis of suspicions of preparation for terrorist attacks."

The official said the men were being questioned by Dutch police but denied an ABC News report that they had been charged with "preparation of a terrorist attack".

Some reports overnight claim the whole incident could be a misunderstanding. Supporting this view, Omar Sufi, a cousin of al-Soofi interviewed at his home in Detroit said he could see nothing unusual in al-Soofi's actions.

It would not be uncommon for a Yemeni to take medicine and phones back to his family, and it was normal to bind together items meant for the same recipient. "This is our culture," he said.

But that does not explain putting your baggage on one flight and taking another and most security experts interviewed by the media say it smacks of a 'dry run'.

Michael Barrett, a security and risk management expert interviewed by Al Jazeera, described the episode as "extremely serious" because it appeared to show there was "continued interest in aviation as the location of a threat for terrorist strikes".

He went on: "It does appear that this potentially is a dry-run - a test attempt to see how the security system works. The good news is obviously that the security system worked and found them; the bad news is potentially there can be many more attempts just like this." ·