WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : JOKE BOMBS

The Netherlands national team got to Dallas five hours late Wednesday after a Dutch reporter told a flight attendant he had a bomb in his bag, police said. A chartered Boeing 727 carrying 163 people was preparing to leave Orlando International Airport for Dallas, where the Dutch will face Brazil in Saturday’s quarterfinal.

Instead, the plane was towed to a remote area of the airport where bomb-sniffing dogs checked the aircraft and the luggage. No bomb was found.

Authorities took Lex Muller, 54, of the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper in Rotterdam, into custody for questioning. Charges are unlikely.

“It appears he was just shooting his mouth off without realizing the consequences of what he was saying,” Sgt. Mike Holloway of the Orlando police said.

Holloway said a flight attendant asked Muller to put his carry-on bag in the overhead bin.

“He didn’t want to do it, and he told her it had a bomb in it,” Holloway said. “She told him, ‘Sir, don’t even joke about that, we take that very seriously.’ And then he said it again.”

The flight attendant reported that Muller, who was angry about tough American security procedures, then said he had a gun in the bag. Holloway said Muller told police he actually said there was no gun in the bag.

Muller was released to a Dutch diplomatic official, who urged authorities not to arrest him.