Latest Airplane Terror Scare May Be False Alarm

It looks like that supposed dry run for a terror attack can be chalked up to a series of harmless coincidences, federal sources tell the Washington Post. The two Yemeni men who flew from Chicago to Amsterdam before being arrested didn't even know each other before the flight. "It doesn't look like a conspiracy, or a test run," said one official. "And these guys don't show up on any of our lists."

The investigation isn't closed yet, but no charges are expected against Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi or Hezem Abdullah Thabi al-Murisi. Soofi raised alarms because he had $7,000 in cash, and screeners found things like a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle in his luggage. Relatives say it was his way of organizing items to give family members. Murisi's bad fortune? He happened to sit next to Soofi on the plane.
(More counterterrorism stories.)