Thursday, September 7 2006 14:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The failure of Dutch authorities to initially provide the identities of 12 Indian men detained in Amsterdam following a security alert on a US airliner has not gone down well with the Indian Government, which has conveyed its protest over the matter.

New Delhi is peeved that the Dutch government did not convey for over a day the real identity of the 12 men from Mumbai after their mid-air detention on a Northwest Airlines flight on August 23 while they were on their way to India.

This led to the Indian embassy in the Hague giving wrong information to the External Affairs Ministry on that day. The embassy, in a communication to the ministry, had said all the men detained were from Trinidad and Tobago, official sources said told sources.

This communication was based on information conveyed by the Dutch authorities when the mission got in touch with them about the detention of the passengers bound for Mumbai, the sources said.

The Indian embassy insisted on being given details of the detained men the next day, and this resulted in the Dutch authorities revealing that all of them were Indian passport holders.

In a communication to the ministry the next day, the embassy said all the detained men were Indian nationals and that the mission would take up the issue with Dutch authorities.

The matter has since been taken up, the sources said.