By SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON - American law enforcement officials said Tuesday that they believed that two Yemeni men detained in Amsterdam after unusual items were found in their luggage had no connection to terrorism, though they remained in Dutch custody and investigators continued to review the case.
The two men, United States residents identified by Dutch authorities as Ahmad Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi, 48, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Hezem al-Murisi, 37, of Memphis, missed their flight on Sunday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after the gate was changed, according to federal officials.
They caught a different flight, but some of their baggage had already been loaded on the flight they missed, including items that had been taped together and attracted attention from airport screeners. Though no explosives were found, investigators considered the possibility that the men might be conducting a test run for a terrorist attack, officials said.
By Tuesday, that possibility was all but ruled out. Neither man was on any terror watch list or had any known history of militancy.
"The F.B.I. looked into this and found no reason to suspect terrorism," said one law enforcement official, speaking of the investigation on the condition of anonymity. He said news accounts of the episode, set off by a report by ABC News on Monday night, had made a media sensation of what was really routine checking by counterterrorism investigators.
An American intelligence official said: "In the end, I think you'll find this is odd and unusual, but that it's not related to terrorism. At this point, we don't see any nexus between them and terrorist networks."
Dutch prosecutors said Mr. Soofi and Mr. Murisi were still being questioned on Tuesday. But a Dutch official said late Tuesday that investigators in Amsterdam had found no evidence of wrongdoing and that the men could be freed as early as Wednesday.
A search of Mr. Soofi by airport security screeners in Birmingham, Ala., as he waited to board a flight to Chicago on Sunday found that he was carrying $7,000 in cash and that his luggage contained a cellphone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, three cellphones taped together and several watches taped together, officials said. The bag also contained pill bottles, a box cutter and three large knives, according to an internal Transportation Security Administration report.
None of the items violated the restrictions for checked luggage, and Mr. Soofi was allowed to fly to Chicago. But the unusual taping of items led to the later inquiry, officials said.
After missing their connection in Chicago, both Mr. Soofi and Mr. Murisi were rebooked on United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam. They evidently intended to fly on to Yemen but were removed from the plane by Dutch security officers, who had been alerted by their American counterparts to the possibility that the men were testing the aviation security system.
Meanwhile, the unaccompanied luggage flew without its owners from Chicago to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, which is not a violation of aviation rules on a domestic flight, Homeland Security Department officials said. The luggage was removed from the connecting flight to Dubai after the plane was pulled back to the gate at Dulles - not at O'Hare, as officials had said Monday night. It underwent further inspection and testing at Dulles, according to T.S.A. documents.
Imad Hamad, Michigan director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he had spoken with several relatives and friends of the detained men and believed that they would be proved innocent. He said many Yemenis living in the United States travel home at this time of year to stay with relatives and celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"People tend to take lots of gifts - cellphones, cameras, even basic medications," Mr. Hamad said. "Different people have different ways of packaging or grouping their gifts together."
He said he did not fault security officials for scrutinizing the men or their luggage. "The last thing we want to do is block the ability of law enforcement to do its job," Mr. Hamad said. But he added that he wished the investigation could have been handled quietly, out of view of the news media.
Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the episode showed that the aviation security system, on higher alert since the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25, was working properly.
"In this instance, sound judgment led to suspicious items being identified, which triggered automatic security responses by U.S. security personnel," Ms. Kudwa said. Dutch authorities and federal air marshals aboard the flight to Amsterdam were informed in advance of concerns about the two men, she said.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
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