Friday, August 25 2006 12:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Amsterdam: "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 today(Aug 25, 2006)," officials in Amsterdam said.

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 today 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.

"Some passengers were frightened by their behaviour," she added.

Other passengers - as also the families of the 12 detained men in Mumbai - said they were traders and were returning back to India after attending an exhibition in Port of Spain.

In Amsterdam, once the identities of the 12 detained men was established, the Indian embassy in The Hague was granted consular access to them at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

And once the authorities found nothing wrong after questioning and a thorough examination of their belongings, including mobile phones and laptop computers, the 12 men were released.

Northwest, on its part, had earlier scheduled an extra flight from Amsterdam to bring back all the remaining passengers of the flight but cancelled it at the last moment.

"The reason for the cancellation is that the crew that had operated flight NW42 on Aug 22 had not been given the mandatory rest time," the airline said in a statement.

"Most of the stranded passengers have been re-booked on other flights out of Amsterdam," the statement added.