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Reuters http://go.reuters. <http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=13282222&src=r ss/topNews> com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=13282222&src=rss/topNews Passengers on U.S. plane tell of air marshal action Thu Aug 24, 2006 07:55 AM ET By Alexandra Hudson AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Passengers aboard a U.S. plane bound for India that was forced to turn back to Amsterdam said air marshals swooped after 12 people began fidgeting with mobile phones and plastic bags. Dutch prosecutors were questioning the 12 on Thursday after the Northwest Airlines flight to Mumbai was forced to return to Schiphol airport escorted by two fighter planes. "The 12 are being interrogated and we will give a press conference later today," said a spokesman for Haarlem prosecutors. He was unable to give details of the suspects or possible charges they might face. "I don't know how close we were, but my guts tell me these people wanted to hijack the plane," passenger Nitin Patel from Boston told the Algemeen Dagblad daily. Security has been increased at airports worldwide in the last two weeks after British police said they had foiled a plot to blow up planes in the mid-Atlantic using liquid explosives disguised as drinks. "I saw the air marshals run and I knew something was amiss," said another passenger. Others commented that those arrested were from Asia and aged between 25 and 35. "Some had beards, others were unshaven, one was wearing a robe. Some had baseball caps," a passenger told the paper. Two Dutch F-16 jets accompanied the 273-seat DC10-30 plane which had reached German airspace before it turned back. The same flight departed for Mumbai, India's financial hub, on Thursday morning at 0830 GMT after the rest of the passengers spent the night in hotels. Dutch police can hold suspects for three days without charge, extended by another three days in special circumstances. Passenger Sarat Menon told Dutch daily De Telegraaf: "Shortly before the flight I spoke to them in a coffee bar. I didn't detect anything suspicious." Mumbai has been on high alert after commuter train bombings on July 11 that killed 186 people. The return of the Northwest plane to Amsterdam did not lead to heightened security and did not affect other flights at Schiphol, Europe's third largest cargo airport and fourth biggest passenger hub, an airport spokeswoman said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
