Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi, who was to believed to be from Yemen, and Hezam al-Murisi, whose nationality was not known, were detained at the request of the American authorities.
Al-Soofi began his journey in Alabama where airport screeners stopped him because of his “bulky clothing”, according to ABC News. They discovered he was carrying $7,000 in cash.
The US Transport and Security Administration is likely to face questions about why he was allowed to board even though his luggage was allegedly found to contain a mobile phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three other mobile phones taped together and several watches taped together.
Sources told ABC that because no explosives were discovered, he was cleared for the flight to Chicago.
A senior law enforcement official said the two men may have been carrying “mock bombs” for what was “almost certainly a dry run”.
At Chicago, al-Soofi appears to have checked his luggage on a flight bound for Yemen, with scheduled stops in Washington’s Dulles airport and Dubai.
He did not board the flight and was instead joined by Murisi for the flight to Amsterdam.
Once it was discovered he was not accompanying his luggage, it was reportedly removed at Washington before the pair were arrested in Holland.
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