Men Who Flew Out of O'Hare on "Dry Bomb Run" Arrested in Amsterdam

By Staff in News on Aug 31, 2010 4:30PM

Amsterdam authorities arrested two men on terrorism charges after they were allowed to fly out of O'Hare Airport with "suspicious items" in their checked luggage. The men, identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI., and Hezam al Murisi, were allowed to board United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam after the items were found, but deemed not dangerous in and of themselves, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Although the names of al Soofi or al Musri were on no-fly watch lists, al Soofi drew the attention of screeners earlier when he checked luggage on a flight to Dulles Airport in Washington, but didn't make connections to flights he reserved to Dubai and Yemen. Prior to landing in Chicago, al Soofi was stopped in Birmingham, AL carrying $7,000 in cash on his person. A search of his luggage found a search of his luggage turned up a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together and several watches taped together. But since there were no explosives, he was released and allowed t continue his travels. A law enforcement official told ABC7, "this was almost certainly a dry run, a test" for a future terrorist act.