Terrorism suspicion on Amsterdam flight

Two passengers have been arrested at Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport on Monday morning due to suspicion on terrorism plot. The men, Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi, both of Yemeni origin, were travelling on a flight from Chicago bound to Amsterdam when the US security officials allerted the Dutch authorities that the pair were carrying suspicious items in their baggage. The items discovered in the suspected luggages were an empty shampoo bottle with watches bound to it and another empty bottle of stomach medicine with mobile phone attached to it. Obviously "the items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves" but the US law enforcement sources believe that the situation looks like a dry-run, a test to see how the security methods work at airports. The investigation is still under way and the path followed by the pair is puzzling: They seem to have started their trip in Birmingham, checked in the luggage on a flight from Chicago to Yemen with scheduled stops at Washington's Dulles airport and Dubai. Subsequently the pair boarded United Airlines 908 flight from Chicago to Amsterdam and when the security team at Dulles airport observed that Ahmed Soofi was not in the same plane as his bag, they recalled the flight and removed the luggage. New York Times reported that the two men had scheduled another route through Alabama rather than Illinois. The questioning still continues at Schiphol airport and it is expected the Dutch officials to come up with an updated statement.
More on detained Amsterdam plane passengers on terrorism plot.