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Questioning continues of two men held at Schiphol airport
- Arrests follow a Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight
- The men in custody may have been testing security
- The suspicious items in their luggage include bottles with phones or watches attached
- Dutch investigators are keeping the lid on details
Amsterdam, Netherlands (CNN) -- Authorities continued Tuesday to question two men held in the Netherlands after landing on a flight from Chicago, Illinois, Dutch prosecutors told CNN.
The men were still being held at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport Tuesday, said Martijn Boelhouwer, a spokesman for Dutch prosecutors. He would not say if they had been charged or why they were taken into custody.
On Monday, a U.S. law enforcement source said the men may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles with electronic devices attached in checked baggage.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday they were arrested after "suspicious items" in their luggage raised concern.
"The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves, and as we share information with our international partners, Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items," the U.S. agency said. "This matter continues to be under investigation."
Video: Relative of terror suspect speaks RELATED TOPICS- Air Travel
- Amsterdam
- Chicago
- Transportation Security
Those items were an empty shampoo bottle with watches attached to it and an empty bottle of a stomach medicine with mobile phones attached, according to the U.S. law enforcement source, who has been briefed on the investigation.
That has raised concern that the men may have been testing a future terrorist plot, the source said.
Attempts to sneak liquid explosives aboard jetliners were at the heart of a 2006 plot broken up by British authorities.
That case led U.S. authorities to ban all but small quantities of liquids from aircraft cabins.
U.S. law enforcement officials told CNN that the checked bags contained knives and box cutters as well.
Passengers have been banned from carrying those items on aircraft since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
The source identified the men aboard United Airlines Flight 908, from Chicago, Illinois, to Amsterdam, as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi.
Al-Soofi began his trip by boarding a flight in Birmingham, Alabama, and al-Murisi originally flew from Memphis, Tennessee, the law enforcement source said.
Al-Murisi was scheduled to fly from Chicago, Illinois to Yemen, with connections in Washington and Dubai, a U.S. government official said, but his flight was changed to go from Chicago to Amsterdam.
Another U.S. law enforcement official said both men were in the United States legally, but their countries of origin were not immediately known.
That official said neither of the passengers was carrying items that are barred from aircraft, and federal air marshals were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight.
However, the law enforcement source said al-Soofi was ticketed for a flight that went to Washington's Dulles International Airport, with continuing stops in Dubai and Yemen, while both he and al-Murisi were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight.
Al-Soofi's luggage went aboard the Chicago-to-Washington flight without him, the source said, in what amounted to another violation of U.S. safety protocols.
A U.S. government official said items in at least one of the bags were being examined by law enforcement authorities at Dulles on Monday night.
The official said al-Soofi and al-Murisi were seated near each other on the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight, but were not seated next to each other.
Authorities are still looking into whether the men were traveling together or simply had similar itineraries, the official said.
CNN's Atika Shubert, Nic Robertson, Jeanne Meserve, Mike Ahlers and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
Source: Dutch arrests may be dry run
- NEW: Men in custody may have been testing security
- NEW: The items included bottles with phones or watches attached
- Arrests follow Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight
- Dutch investigators keep lid on details
- Air Travel
- Amsterdam
- Chicago
- Transportation Security
(CNN) -- Two men held in the Netherlands may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles with electronic devices attached in checked baggage, a U.S. law enforcement source said Monday.
The men were taken into custody after landing in Amsterdam on a flight from Chicago, Illinois, Dutch prosecutors said. Both men were being held at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport at the request of Dutch national police, airport spokesman Robert Kapel said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were arrested after "suspicious items" in their luggage raised concern.
"The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves, and as we share information with our international partners, Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items," the U.S. agency said. "This matter continues to be under investigation."
Those items were an empty shampoo bottle with watches attached to it and an empty bottle of a stomach medicine with mobile phones attached, according to the U.S. law enforcement source, who has been briefed on the investigation. That has raised concern that the men may have been testing a future terrorist plot, the source said.
Attempts to sneak liquid explosives aboard jetliners were at the heart of a 2006 plot broken up by British authorities. That case led U.S. authorities to ban all but small quantities of liquids from aircraft cabins.
U.S. law enforcement officials told CNN that the checked bags contained knives and box cutters as well. Passengers have been banned from carrying those items on aircraft since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
The source identified the men aboard United Airlines Flight 908, from Chicago, Illinois, to Amsterdam, as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi. Al-Soofi began his trip by boarding a flight in Birmingham, Alabama, and al-Murisi originally flew from Memphis, Tennessee, the law enforcement source said.
Another U.S. law enforcement official said both men were in the United States legally, but their countries of origin were not immediately known. That official said neither of the passengers were carrying items that are barred from aircraft, and federal air marshals were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight.
However, the law enforcement source said al-Soofi was ticketed for a flight that went to Washington's Dulles International Airport, with continuing stops in Dubai and Yemen, while both he and al-Murisi were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight. Al-Soofi's luggage went aboard the Chicago-to-Washington flight without him, the source said, in what amounted to another violation of U.S. safety protocols.
A U.S. government official said items in at least one of the bags were being examined by law enforcement authorities at Dulles on Monday night.
The official said al-Soofi and al-Murisi were seated near each other on the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight, but were not seated next to each other. Authorities are still looking into whether the men were traveling together or simply had similar itineraries, the official said.
CNN's Nic Robertson, Jeanne Meserve, Mike Ahlers and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
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U.S. expands sanctions on North Korea
- A new presidential executive order is aimed at imposing sanctions on North Korea
- The order supplements existing U.S. sanctions
- It targets individuals or entities doing business with and for North Korea
- North Korea
- Barack Obama
- Political Sanctions
- International Relations
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama issued an executive order Monday giving broad new authority to impose financial sanctions on North Korean entities and individuals doing business with and for the secretive communist state.
Stuart Levey, Treasury Department under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the new order "targets a wide range of illicit activities undertaken by the government of North Korea."
Obama specifically named three North Korean entities, but his order covers much more ground, directing the State and Treasury departments to target any individuals or entities that facilitate North Korean trafficking in arms and related materiel; procurement of luxury goods; and engagement in illicit economic activities, such as money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods and currency, bulk cash smuggling and narcotics trafficking.
This new executive order supplements existing but more limited U.S. sanctions established in 2008 by President George W. Bush, which targeted proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.
And it makes it possible for the U.S. to go after individuals and companies in other countries who assist or sponsor financial relationships with the North Koreans that include any of the banned types of transactions.
The action comes just days after former President Jimmy Carter returned from North Korea having secured the release of a US citizen who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor by the government there for entering the country illegally.
Robert J. Einhorn, special Advisor to the State Department for nonproliferation and arms control, told reporters that the timing of the sanctions announcement after the Carter visit was purely a coincidence.
Pakistan report expected in days
The International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat hopes a report into spot-fixing claims against some of Pakistan's players will be ready soon.
The ICC's anti-corruption is preparing the report, while police carry out a separate criminal investigation.
There is no indication the four players questioned - Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal - are facing suspension at this stage.
The ICC has also stated that Pakistan's tour of England will continue.
"It is the desire of the ICC and the cricket boards of England and Pakistan that the game should continue," ICC president Sharad Pawar said.
Pakistan are due to play Somerset in a tour match from Thursday before playing the first of two Twenty20 internationals against England on Sunday - by which time the ICC hopes to have made its initial report.
"The reputation of the game has been tarnished and it is something we must make right. There is no question that people's confidence will have been swayed," Lorgat said.
"Hopefully we can reach a conclusion by the weekend.
"We are working hard, but it's important to remember that an individual is innocent until proven guilty."
Test captain Butt, fast bowlers Amir and Asif and wicketkeeper Akmal were questioned by police at the team's hotel in London on Sunday following a report that some Pakistan players had been bribed to fix incidents during the fourth Test against England at Lord's.
The allegations centred on three no-balls from Amir and Asif which the News of the World newspaper said had been bowled on purpose at pre-determined times to facilitate betting coups after a "middle man" accepted £150,000 in cash from an undercover reporter.
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The man identified as the alleged go-between, cricket agent Mazhar Majeed, 35, has been released on police bail after being arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.
Investigators from the ICC's anti-corruption and security unit are already in the UK conducting enquiries of their own as well as "assisting London's Metropolitan Police with their criminal investigation. "
"If any players are found to be guilty, the ICC will ensure that the appropriate punishment is handed out. We will not tolerate corruption in this great game," revealed Lorgat in a statement earlier.
On Monday, the Pakistan team coach left London for Taunton ahead of the match against Somerset. Pakistan are then due to continue their tour with the two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day internationals against England in September.
Test captain Butt - the one-day side is led by Shahid Afridi - boarded the coach with Amir, Asif and Akmal, plus the rest of his team-mates, despite calls from a number of quarters for the quartet to be suspended from the final part of the tour pending investigations.
There were audible, but isolated, shouts of abuse from at least one member of the public after a crowd gathered to watch the players leave London.
If, unfortunately, there is a truth then ruthless actions will be taken ICC president Sharad PawarSomerset chief executive Richard Gould said he expected the team to receive a "warm welcome" on Thursday.
He added: "They have a net session booked in for Wednesday and if they want anything else we will be happy to provide it. This game has been looked forward to by many of our supporters and members and we think they will give the Pakistan team a warm welcome."
Pakistan's team manager Yawar Saeed revealed there were "sober feelings" in the dressing room, but added: "No allegations are true til they are proved."