Dutch F-16s escort NWA flight back to Amsterdam airport
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(AP) - Dutch F-16s escorted a Northwest Airlines flight bound for India back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Wednesday after the crew reported some passengers were behaving suspiciously, authorities said.
Several passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight NW0042 to Bombay were taken off the plane for questioning after it landed safely, airport spokeswoman Pamela Kuypers said. Others were questioned at the gate.
The Dutch Defense Ministry and airport authorities said the pilot radioed for permission to return and asked for an escort of jet fighters when the crew's suspicions were aroused by several passengers.
A number of passengers behaved, in the opinion of the crew, in a suspicious manner.
"A number of them behaved, in the opinion of the crew, in a suspicious manner," said a Defense Ministry statement. "As a result, the captain asked to return to Schiphol. The customs police have taken a number of people off the plane for questioning."
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A U.S. passenger named Alpa, who did not wish to use her last name, told AP television reporters she had seen police handcuff and remove around 11 men of south Asian appeareance from the plane before other passengers. She said she didn't see what happened but heard from other passengers the men had aroused suspicion by getting out their mobile phones.
Dutch NOS news reported that 12 passengers had been detained, but airport police could not immediately confirm that.
Airline and airport officials would not comment on whether the concerns appeared to be justified.
Routine security measures were swiftly put into place.
The plane was carrying 149 passengers, when it turned around after crossing the German border. A Northwest DC 10 has a normal seating capacity of 273.
Customs police spokesman Rick Hirs said shortly after the plane landed that no one was immediately arrested.
The Dutch National Terrorism Coordinator's Office was informed, but said there was no reason to raise the national threat level, spokeswoman Judith Sluiter said.
"It is the same as it was before - light threat," said Sluiter.
The flight was canceled until Thursday, and the passengers were put up in hotels, Northwest said.
Like airports around the world, Schiphol raised the level of security two weeks ago when British police announced they had uncovered a plot to blow up several U.S.-bound commercial jetliners, but Kuypers said threat levels had returned to normal.
Several alerts have been sounded since the terrorism plot was outlined in London. On Friday, a British plane made an emergency landing in southern Italy after a bomb scare, and the U.S. Air Force scrambled jets to escort a United Airlines flight from London to Washington as it was diverted to Boston.
Wednesday's security alert was the first at Amsterdam's international airport since September, when a British Airways flight returned in similar circumstances. It turned out to be a false alarm.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
