12 arrested on Northwest flight out of Amsterdam

[Livia]

12 arrested after Northwest Airlines turned back
Passengers 'looked into plastic bags, passed cell phones'

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CNN) -- Dutch police said Wednesday that 12 passengers were in custody after a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Mumbai, India, returned to Amsterdam when several people on board aroused concern.

No formal charges have been laid, police said.

A U.S. government official said that some of the passengers had pulled out cell phones during the flight, and that some appeared to be trying to pass the cell phones to other passengers.

In addition, some passengers unfastened their seatbelts while the light requiring they be fastened was still illuminated, the official said.

That was enough to cause U.S. air marshals aboard the flight to break their cover. Fight attendants ordered the passengers to heed the orders of the marshals, the official added.

An airline source in Amsterdam said the passengers who were arrested were looking into plastic bags and were busy with their cell phones.

The spokesman said the 12 -- whose identities have not been made public -- face preliminary charges, but did not elaborate.

Flight 42 returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after "a couple of passengers displayed behavior of concern," according to Northwest Airlines.

"Northwest is cooperating with the appropriate government officials," the company's statement said.

The flight, which originated in Northwest's main hub of Minneapolis-St. Paul a day earlier, landed at Schiphol around noon (6 a.m. ET), about half an hour after it had left, TSA said.

There were 149 passengers on board, Northwest said. Flight 42 has been canceled and will be rescheduled for Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Schiphol Airport said the pilot had made the request to return to Amsterdam.

"A number of them behaved, in the opinion of the crew, in a suspicious manner," the Defense Ministry told The Associated Press. "As a result, the captain asked to return to Schiphol."

Security has been heightened at airports worldwide after revelation of an alleged plot to blow up planes traveling across the Atlantic using liquid explosives. The alleged plot, which was uncovered by British authorities on August 10, involved flights from Britain to the United States.

As a matter of security, the Federal Air Marshal Service does not confirm which flights are patrolled by air marshals.

In general, federal air marshals do not identify themselves to passengers if they believe the crew can handle a situation without assistance.

-- Journalist Marijn Tebbens and CNN's Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.



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