(Aug. 31) -- Dutch police are questioning two men who were arrested upon arrival on a flight from Chicago after U.S. authorities found suspicious items in their checked luggage, including a cell phone taped to a medicine bottle, knives and a box cutter.
There are conflicting theories about whether the men actually posed any threat. One senior U.S. security source, who spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity, said the pair were suspected of carrying out a "dry run" for a terrorist attack. However, law enforcement officials told The New York Times the men had not been charged with any crime and that the whole situation could be a misunderstanding.
The pair are being questioned at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, said Martijn Boelhouwer, spokesman for the Dutch national prosecutor's office, according to The Associated Press. Neither has been charged with any offense in the Netherlands. CNN identified the two as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi, who, according to the Times, are of Yemeni descent.
Under Dutch law, they two can be held without charges for six days, the AP noted.
Authorities became suspicious on Sunday, when airport security screeners in Birmingham, Ala., referred al-Soofi for additional security checks because of his "bulky clothing," officials told ABC. He was reportedly found to be carrying $7,000 in cash, which, in itself, isn't illegal. His luggage, meanwhile, contained a cell phone strapped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives, authorities said. It is not illegal to carry any of these items in checked luggage.
With no sign of explosives, al-Soofi and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago. Once in Chicago, ABC said, al-Soofi was joined by al-Murisi, and the two boarded the United Airlines flight to Amsterdam.
Back at Birmingham, officials discovered that al-Soofi had not taken his luggage with him to Chicago. Instead, it had been checked onto a flight to Washington's Dulles International Airport and was scheduled to fly on to Sanaa, Yemen, by way of Dubai, the Times said. Once officials realized al-Soofi wasn't on board the plane to Dulles, they ordered the jetliner back to the gate and removed the luggage, which contained the suspicious items.
"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," Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times. "This matter continues to be under investigation."
Al-Soofi's family has claimed that he was most likely trying to take medicine and gifts back to his family, and had bound together items meant for the same recipient. "This is our culture," Omar Sufi of Detroit, al-Soofi's cousin, told the Times. He added that his cousin was "a nice guy" who worked as a cashier in Alabama and spoke limited English.
Security at Schiphol Airport has been heightened since Christmas Day, when Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew from there for Detroit. Upon arrival in Detroit, he allegedly tried to blow up his plane by detonating explosives hidden in his underpants.
