Arrest of 12 Passengers on Netherlands-India Flight Merits Further Investigation

By Walid Phares

Twelve passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai, India were arrested today after passengers and crew noticed suspicious behavior over Germany, with the plane escorted by Dutch F-16s. Why is this important and why should it be investigated further?

1. All twelve were using their cell phones after the plane took off. You never see an entire group of passengers engage in such flagrantly illegal behavior. Were they talking with each other and with others at their destination?

2. They were flying out of Amsterdam, and the Netherlands is one of the centers of Islamist extremism in Europe. See this post by my colleague Lorenzo Vidino last October, and recall the murder of Theo van Gogh there.

3. They were flying to Mumbai (Bombay), India, scene of a deadly series of train bombings on July 11. I posted on that event here on July 12, and my CT Blog colleagues posted about it also.

Maybe it will turn out to be nothing, but this event merits further investigation.

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