The pair's luggage, which had been checked through to another destination, contained box cutters, knives and a cell phone taped to a medicine bottle, three cell phones taped together and several watches taped together and 7,000 dollars. They were allowed to fly out of Chicago aboard United Airlines Flight 908 because they did not carry explosives or 'prohibited items' in their carry-on baggage. The US Homeland Security warned the Dutch authorities about the two men identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Mursi. Soofi is believed to be from Yemen.
The media were informed that federal air marshals were aboard the United Flight 908 from O'Hare."
