Odd Airline Incident Called "Dry Run" for Attack
by IPT News • Aug 31, 2010 at 1:14 pm
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2146/odd-airline-incident-called-dry-run-for-attack
*Update: ABC News now reports that "concerns about a possible terror 'dry run' involving the two eased" and that they were released from custody without being charged.
The arrest of two Yemeni men Sunday night after they flew from Chicago to Amsterdam broke up what "was almost certainly a dry run, a test," a senior law enforcement official told ABC News.
Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi have not been charged with any crime, but are being held by Dutch authorities on suspicion they conspired to commit a terrorist act. Security screeners found cellphones taped to watches and to a bottle of Pepto-Bismal inside Soofi's luggage.
That bag went to Dulles Airport outside Washington, where Soofi originally was supposed to fly. But he changed itineraries and flew from Chicago to Amsterdam. Officials say the bag had been determined to be harmless and no passengers were endangered.
Soofi and Murisi's ultimate destination was said to be the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Soofi was questioned by airport security officers in Alabama.
Air marshals kept an eye on the men during the flight, ABC reported. The network cited an unnamed senior U.S. official saying the number of marshals in the sky has been increased recently due to a heightened state concern over possible airline hijackings.
An Associated Press report casts doubt on the ABC report, saying the men are unlikely to be charged after the FBI's initial investigation minimized the likelihood it was a test run.
A "dry run" to test security procedures is not something new, however. The 9/11 hijackers were seen in Logan airport and on at least one previous flight of one of the planes they ultimately commandeered. And the 9/11 Commission report detailed a 1999 incident in which two men were detained on an America West flight after trying to enter the cockpit. They claimed they mistook the door for the lavatory entrance.
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Reader comments on this item
Not a Dry Run-Wait a Minute
Submitted by Caljack, Aug 31, 2010 16:20
The two men who took part in this recent Airline Incident still have a lot of explaining to do..but even more so, perhaps so does TSA and our goverment. It is being reported that Al Soofi has legal permanent resident status, but has no direct family here in the USA. Then why and how did he get his Green Card. As for Al Muris, his visitor's visa has long since expired, so he is an illegal alien, if reports are correct.
Why is he still here? Is our goverment tracking these visa's? If not, then why not? The Goverment stated that they were going too. Then there is the money and the taped up items in his luggage. The public deserves some answers other than, it's not a crime or it wasn't a dry run. This story is another example that we cannot trust our goverment to protect and defend us. It is so bad now that if they did tell us the truth, I would not be able to identify it. It is hard enough to feel safe flying these days, this dry run does not help shake that fear, it just increases the fear.