Three students detained in Florida terror alert

Three medical students were detained today and a major US road was shut for over 12 hours after a woman overheard a suspected terror plot being discussed.

Police closed Alligator Alley, an interstate highway in South Florida, and blew up a suspect package as explosives experts investigated two cars the men were travelling in.

The security alert started last night when the men, who were of Middle Eastern appearance, were heard in a cafe laughing at the September 11 anniversary commemorations and saying that Americans would “cry on 9/13.”

They men were later stopped after driving through a tollbooth without paying at 6am UK time.

Bomb-sniffing dogs alerted authorities to material in both cars, but no explosives were immediately found, said a spokesman for the Florida Department of Law.

Authorities said that they had not found a terrorist connection and that the men appeared to be students going to a medical conference in Miami.

The men’s nationalities were believed to be Jordanian, Iranian and Pakistani, and at least two are naturalised US citizens.

Police said they had been detained but had not been placed under arrest.

Eunice Stone, who saw the men in a restaurant in Calhoun, Georgia, said they talked about going to Miami and “bringing it down.”

America has been on a major terror alert since the September 11 commemorations earlier this week.