U.S. officials cast doubt on terror arrest

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday they doubt two men detained after flying to Amsterdam, Netherlands, are involved in any terror plot.

Two men -- Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi -- were permitted to travel for "investigative purposes" even though they had tripped security alarms, sources told ABC.

But a law enforcement source told The New York Times Tuesday it is highly unlikely the men have any connection to terrorism.

The suspects, who were detained by Dutch officials at the request of the U.S. government, allegedly carried "mock bombs" in their baggage. Security personnel originally flagged al-Soofi at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Alabama after a check of his luggage turned up a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three other cellphones taped together, a box cutter and three knives.

But Omar Sufi of Detroit, who said he is Soofi's cousin, told the Times Soofi was probably trying to take phones and medicine to his family in Yemen and that it was "common to bind together items meant for the same recipient."

"You go into these situations with an open mind, but the facts never really supported a suspicion of terrorism," one law enforcement official told the Times.

Dutch authorities said Tuesday al-Soofi and al-Murisi "are held in custody on suspicion of a conspiracy to a terrorist criminal act. In a few days it will be made public if they will be charged."