Jet alert suspects 'to be freed'

BBC
Aug. 24, 2006

All 12 passengers arrested after a US airliner returned to Amsterdam will be released, Dutch prosecutors say.

Northwest Airlines flight 42, bound for Mumbai (Bombay) in India, changed course over Germany and flew back to Schiphol airport on Wednesday.

The 12 men, said to be of Asian appearance, reportedly aroused suspicion by fiddling with mobile phones and plastic bags.

US air marshals apprehended them before the pilot diverted the flight.

Two Dutch F-16 fighter jets escorted it back to Schiphol.

Explosives search

"From the statement of suspects and witnesses, no evidence could be brought forward that these men were about to commit an act of violence," a prosecution statement said.

It added that police had searched for explosives on the aircraft, but had found none.

The same flight departed for Mumbai, India's financial hub, on Thursday morning.

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 transatlantic flights.

Several security alerts since then have seen flights diverted, passengers removed or planes searched.