New Delhi: The 12 Indians arrested at Schiphol airport two days ago after a Northwest Airlines flight on its way to Mumbai was escorted back by Dutch fighters will fly back to India Friday, officials in Amsterdam said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs is concerned that those detained and questioned at Schipol airport are all of South Asia origin .
MEA sources have told CNN-IBN that the crew of the North West airlines flight appeared to have over-reacted and the scrambling for F-16s seemed uncalled for.
But they also said that the incident took place at a time of heightened alert over terrorism. In that sense, the sources said, India cannot be dismissive of the concerns that motivated the crew.
The Dutch embassy in New Delhi also told CNN-IBN that no racial issue was involved and it was a technical matter concerning flight safety and no chances could be taken.
It noted that all the Indians were released after questioning
The 12 men, arrested after the captain of the aircraft requested help from the Dutch air force following what he said was "suspicious behaviour" by some of the passengers on board, were released without any charge, officials added.
The other passengers of the Northwest Airlines flight aircraft landed in Mumbai in the early hours of Friday - some by the same airline and the others in a Jet Airways via Singapore.
According to officials of the Dutch justice ministry, the 12 Mumbai-born Indians had not done anything seriously wrong but added their behaviour and exchange of mobile phones had aroused suspicion - a fact confirmed by fellow passengers.
"They were moving about and talking loudly. They were exchanging cell phones and laptops all that give rise to suspicion," said Kiran Dalal, a passenger of the Northwest Airlines flight who arrived in Mumbai Thursday night. airport.
The authorities found nothing wrong after questioning and a thorough examination of their belongings, including mobile phones and laptop computers and released the 12 men.
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