German Police Capture Terroristst on Plane

German police seized two suspected terrorists from a Dutch passenger aircraft at Cologne airport Friday shortly before it was due to take off for Amsterdam, officials told CNN.

A 23-year-old Somali national and a 24-year-old German citizen who had been born in Mogadishu were arrested on a KLM plane at 6.55 am local time (0455 GMT), a police spokesman said.

Police said “farewell” letters had been found from the men that led them to suspect they were intending to carry out terror attacks. It was not revealed where the letters were found or how long the men had been under observation.

A KLM spokeswoman told NOS news in the Netherlands that police boarded the Fokker 50 jet when it was at its “point of departure” and grabbed the two suspects, The Associated Press reported.

She said all other passengers aboard the aircraft were made to leave the plane.

“Then a ‘baggage parade’ took place to see if the two passengers who were taken by the police had bags with them,” the spokeswoman said, according to AP.

She said everyone was then forced to leave the plane, and there was a “baggage parade” to see whose bags belonged to whom.

Amsterdam’s Schipol airport Web site listed flight KL 1804, the scheduled morning flight from Cologne to Amsterdam, as having arrived at 9.17 am local time, one hour and two minutes after it was due to arrive.

The German ferderal office for criminal investigation told CNN that they saw no connection with Eric Breiniger — a suspected member of a terror cell who authorities said Thursday they believed was on his way back from Pakistan with two other members of the cell.

Source: CNN.