The failure of Dutch authorities to initially provide the identities of 12 Indian men detained in Amsterdam, following a security alert on a US airliner, has not gone down well with the Indian government. It has, therefore, conveyed its protest over the matter.
New Delhi is peeved that the Dutch government did not -- convey for over a day -- the real identity of the 12 men from Mumbai after their mid-air detention on a Northwest Airlines flight on August 23, while they were on their way to India.
This led to the Indian embassy in Hague giving wrong information to the External Affairs Ministry.
The embassy, in a communication to the ministry, had said all the men detained were from Trinidad and Tobago, official sources said told PTI.
This communication was based on information conveyed by the Dutch authorities when the mission got in touch with them about the detention of the passengers bound for Mumbai, the sources said.
The Indian embassy insisted on being given details of the detained men the next day, and this resulted in the Dutch authorities revealing that all of them were Indian passport holders.
In a communication to the ministry the next day, the embassy said all the detained men were Indian nationals and that the mission would take up the issue with Dutch authorities. The matter has since been taken up, the sources said.
All the detained men were carrying Indian passports but this information was not conveyed to the mission till the day after their detention, the sources pointed out.
The External Affairs Ministry had summoned Dutch Ambassador Eric Neihe to lodge a protest over the handling of the detention and the envoy had expressed regret.
The Indians were arrested in bizarre circumstances in mid-air on a US airliner, with authorities saying they were detained because of their 'suspicious behaviour' on board the aircraft. They were held and questioned for two days at Amsterdam before being set free.
Neihe was summoned by Secretary (West) Shashi U Tripathi and told that the way the men were treated was 'not in conformity with the friendly relations' between India and the Netherlands.
