Terror scare hits Mumbai flight

AMSTERDAM: A US airline flight to India returned to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Wednesday, escorted by two Dutch F-16 jet fighters, 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, and other passengers were questioned at the gate, airport spokeswoman Pamela Kuypers said.

The Dutch defence ministry and airport authorities said the pilot radioed for permission to return and asked for an escort of jet fighters when the crew suspicions were aroused by several passengers. “A number of them behaved, in the opinion of the crew, in a suspicious manner,” said a defence ministry statement.

Routine security measures were swiftly put into place. The plane was carrying 149 passengers, when it turned around after crossing the German border. Customs police spokesman Rick Hirs said shortly after the plane landed that no one was immediately arrested. The Dutch national terrorism co-ordinator’s office was informed, but said there was no reason to raise the national threat level.

Meanwhile, Northwest Airlines said it has cancelled the Mumbai-bound flight. “Flight no 42 is being cancelled for today but will be travelling to Mumbai tomorrow,” the airlines said in a statement in New Delhi.
Many alerts have been sounded since a terrorism plot was outlined in London. On Friday, a British plane made an emergency landing in southern Italy after a bomb scare, and the US Air Force had to escort a UAL 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.