[Updated at 9:10 p.m.] Luggage with suspicious items that led to the arrests of two passengers of a Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight Monday was checked onto a different flight - one that went from Chicago to Washington's Dulles Airport and was scheduled to go on to Dubai, a law enforcement official confirms.
[Updated at 7:49 p.m.] The two men - passengers on United Flight 908 from Chicago O'Hare to Amsterdam on Sunday night - were arrested Monday at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport after "suspicious items" were found in checked baggage, U.S. and Dutch authorities said.
Suspicious items found in luggage associated with the pair "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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. "This matter continues to be under investigation."
One of the men had travelled to Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama, and the other had flown to Chicago from Memphis, Tennessee, a law enforcement official told CNN.
An X-Ray of the checked luggage of the man who had flown from Birmingham showed several cell phones strapped to bottles of medicinal liquid, a law enforcement official said.
The men did not have prohibited items on themselves or in carry-on luggage, a law-enforcement official said. Federal air marshals were on the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight, that official said.
[Original post] Two men were arrested Monday at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport after a flight from the United States, a spokesman for the Dutch Justice Ministry said.
The men were being held at the airport after arriving in the Dutch capital from Chicago, Illinois, Justice Ministry spokesman Martiun Boalhouwer told CNN. Boalhouwer would release no further details of the arrests, saying an investigation was under way.
ABC News, citing U.S. law enforcement officials, reported that the men have been charged in the Netherlands with "preparation of a terrorist attack," and that they had just flown from Chicago, Illinois, to Amsterdam on a United Airlines flight.
The two appeared to have been traveling with "mock bombs" in their luggage, U.S. officials said, according to ABC News.
One of the men who had suspicious items in his luggage flew from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chicago's O'Hare airport, ABC News reported, citing unnamed officials. At some point, the luggage was checked onto a flight going from Chicago to Washington's Dulles Airport and then to Dubai, but rather than flying to Washington with that luggage, he boarded the Chicago-Amsterdam flight with the second man, ABC News reported, citing unnamed officials.
Screeners determined before the Birmingham-Chicago flight that the luggage didn't have explosives, officials said, according to ABC News. The luggage was removed from the Washington-Dubai flight when officials learned the man wasn't on that plane, and more screening again found no explosives, ABC News reported.
The men were taken into custody in Amsterdam after a request from the Netherlands' National Detective Department, airport press officer Robert Kapel said.
- CNN's Jeanne Meserve and Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.
Dexter is right on with his post, where are the TSA agents?
I am sure it is those Swiss Guards from the Vatican !!
You are an IDIOT
Is your name Neal or Bob?
Or is that what you do?
Stephen Nagy, You Sir ..are a Genius !!! Where are you from .... Missisippi ?? Get a Joke !!
Satan is dividing and conquering(sp?) here. We are so busy hating folks we cant ever give or feel love. I dont mean these guys in particular,us as a people are divided and now we are falling. Every great civilization has crumbled on this planet, arent we next?
Rome fell because they embraced diversity.
Sounds like the same thing liberal's want us to do eh?
ROFL @ Thozzmania
Wait, that WAS a joke, right?
So, with all the c**p we have to go through to get on a plane here, to fly anywhere, how the heck did they even make it on the plane in Chicago?! I don't get it!! Glad they were caught before something actually happened, tho.
Tea Party Activists
Texas
You may wake up to reality someday, but I doubt it.
"Mock bomb" more like seeing what's it's like to bring drugs back.
LALALALALALALALALALALAL!!!!! boom!
Typo, should read "mock bongs"
ha! probably
Can't be Muslims because they told us we're all racists and hatemongers for disrespecting their religion.
They're going to build a peaceful mosque by ground zero to show all of us idiot infidels the way to peace, love and happiness. LMFAO!
Bet their last names are Smith and Jones.
Is it possible security found the "dummy bomb" ... Realised it was fake ... And decided to see where it was going... It may have been a bit of good sleuthing
Dumb...u even make sense to u?...they could have found that out here.
if that was part of the TSA and government's plan then OK but still.. THIS WAS A DRY RUN TERRORTIST ATTACK
PERIOD!
THOSE DARN DIRTY IKEA PEOPLE HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!!!!
Ikea is based in Sweden, Amsterdam is in The Netherlands, moron
YEMEN
ENEMY
heh nice
Probably caught sparking up a doob in the plane bathroom and overheard talking about Afghan Kush by fellow passengers.
They're mesicans!!