Washington – The FBI thinks two men arrested in Amsterdam after suspicious items were found in the luggage of one of the men were probably not on a test run for a future terror attack, a U.S. official said.
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An FBI investigation cast doubt on earlier theories even as Dutch authorities held the men on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.
The U.S. does not expect to charge the men, a law enforcement official said. They were arrested in Amsterdam — both were traveling to Yemen — did not know each other and were not traveling together, a U.S. government official said.
“These two passengers have not been charged with any crime in the United States and we caution you against jumping to any conclusions,” Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said Tuesday.
U.S. officials had earlier said they were investigating whether the two men had been conducting a dry run for a potential terrorist attack. But as the probe evolved, officials said that appeared unlikely.
Both men missed flights to Washington Dulles International Airport from Chicago, and United Airlines then booked them on the same flight to Amsterdam, the U.S. government official said.
On Tuesday, Theo D’Anjou, a Dutch prosecutor, did not address why they were being held after U.S. officials cast doubt on the case: “We are taking it seriously. Otherwise we would not have arrested them.”
A U.S. official identified the men as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi. Al Soofi had a Detroit address. Al Soofi had been living in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Al Soofi was questioned by the Transportation Security Administration in Birmingham on Sunday, one of the officials said. He told the authorities he was carrying a lot of cash. Screeners found $7,000 on him, but he wasn’t breaking any law.
Transporation Security Administration screeners found suspicious items in his bag: a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and boxcutter, according to another U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation.
I always wrap my Pepto bottle with cell phones. Keeps the plastic bottle from breaking in transit.
Of course they weren’t on any terrorist mission. No one would ever think that men named Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi carrying a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and boxcutter would possibly be on a terrorist mission.