Two senior BAE Systems executives were detained by US authorities investigating corruption allegations, it was revealed today.

The defence firm's chief executive, Mike Turner, and a senior colleague are understood to have been held as they arrived in the US on business this week.

The pair were questioned while documents and personal electronic equipment – including laptops and Blackberries – were examined before being released.

The US justice department acted at Houston airport in Texas as part of its investigation into a £43bn arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

The company has been accused of making illegal payments to key officials from the regime - although it has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

There was outrage in December 2006 when the British government announced that the Serious Fraud Office was dropping its probe into the al-Yamamah deal.

The then-attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, and prime minister, Tony Blair, insisted continuing would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and put national security at risk.

However, the high court has since ruled that the SFO acted unlawfully in abandoning the case, while authorities in the US have pressed ahead.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, several US-based BAE executives had their homes raided at around the same time Turner and his unnamed colleague were detained.

BAE Systems Inc, a subsidiary of UK-based parent BAE Systems Plc, employs about 43,000 employees in the US.

British officials in Washington were reportedly informed of the incident on Monday when Turner, a 59-year-old father of four, alerted military contacts at the embassy.

One told the Sunday Telegraph: "It was pretty heavy-handed. They had their laptops taken away and their documents photocopied."

A BAE spokesman said: "BAE Systems notes press coverage concerning recent developments in connection with the Department of Justice investigation which commenced in June 2007.

"As the company has already announced, the investigation is ongoing and any request for information relating to it should be directed to the DoJ."

The Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said: "These reports illustrate that the investigation into alleged corruption over this arms deal is very far from closed.

"I approached the home secretary several months ago to ask whether the British government would co-operate with the department of justice, and I received an unhelpful and ambiguous answer.

"It is very clear that the US authorities will not let this go. If there is any question of illegality on American soil they will investigate fully, and they are putting the British government to shame."