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German police arrest 2 terror suspects on KLM plane

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-27 06:35

BRUSSELS -- German police arrested two terrorist suspects from a KLM plane in Cologne shortly before it was to take off for Amsterdam on Friday, Dutch media reported.

The two young men, reportedly with a Somali background, were arrested after police found notes in their apartments saying they were willing to die in "holy war." They had been under police surveillance for several months, Radio Netherlands said.

However, Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said the two unarmed men did not intend to hijack the plane. There were 48 passengers on board the Fokker 50 plane at the time. The plane departed for Amsterdam after a delay of an hour.

The two men allegedly wanted to fly to Africa and then travel to Pakistan to join a terrorist group which calls itself Islamic Jihad Union, German media reported.

Dutch national anti-terrorism coordinator Tjibbe Joustra told Dutch NOS news on Friday that he sees no need to tighten the country's security measures following the incident. Neither have extra precautions been taken by the military police at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.