bjcc:
89. - (1) An officer may stop a person for so long as is necessary to question him to ascertain-
Afraid that won't fly - the pax weren't questioned at all,
AFAIK - they were simply detained, eventually reunited with their luggage, and finally sent home - 8 hours after checking-in!
Police and security will do whatever they need to do in a situation like this, within the law. That's a given. But I think there's a serious question as to whether what they did was legal.
And there's no excuse for not providing explanation and refreshments - all it needed was for an FR or airport rep. to come along and say 'We've got a serious suspicion about a piece of checked baggage on this flight. The police will keep you here until we've rescreened etc., this will take at least a couple of hours. We'll send someone in with sandwiches and tea/coffee as soon as possible'.
Would that have been too much to expect? Would have considerably defused the situation. No FR jokes please - this situation was entirely down to airport/security/police, not FR.
Of course, if the *police* were exercising total control of the situation, and they decided to forbid anyone from offering the pax information or refreshments, that's a different chain of command and needs different questions and answers.
R1