12 held at airport are innocent - US Senator

None of the men arrested at a New York airport were terrorists attempting a repeat of Tuesday’s hijackings, it was revealed today.

A total of 12 men were arrested by police at John F Kennedy Airport last night, one on suspicion of having a false pilot’s licence and others who had been thought to be impersonating airline staff.

But today Senator Joseph Biden, a member of the Senate’s intelligence committee, said all had been released without charge.

‘‘One was actually a pilot,’’ he said. ‘‘Ten were people who had Boeing stickers on their baggage and were on their way to a Boeing conference. They were either Boeing staff or people invited to the conference, I’m not sure which.

‘‘The staff thought, wait a minute, this is suspicious.’’

And he described another man detained as a ‘‘screwball’’.

‘‘He was saying all sorts of things, making wild claims,’’ said the senator, who added he had spoken to the directors of the FBI and the CIA early this morning.

‘‘We are all in a high state of alert and this is inevitable,’’ he said.