By Tony Winterburn • Published: 31 Aug 2020 • 6:05
TWO men have been arrested at Stansted under the UK’s Terrorism Act after RAF jets were scrambled to intercept a Ryanair plane.
Essex Police have now confirmed that a 34-year-old from Kuwait and a 48-year-old from Italy, who were flying in from Vienna, were both arrested by an anti-terror unit at the airport on Sunday evening.
Police said in a statement: “Counter Terrorism Policing officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit have this evening (Sunday) detained two men under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act (2000). Enquiries are ongoing.”
As reported earlier by the EWN, RAF Typhoon jets were called in to escort the plane with armed personnel surrounding the passenger plane and then coming on board after it touched down on the runway around 7.20pm.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said that the crew on the Lauda aircraft had “alerted of a potential security threat on board” during the flight from the Austrian capital.
One woman who claimed to be on board tweeted: “Armed police took away two men and suspicious objects!” The objects were allegedly found in the toilet of the aircraft.
“In line with procedures, the captain informed UK authorities and continued to London Stansted, where the aircraft landed normally and taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely. Passengers in London Stansted waiting to depart to Vienna were transferred to a spare aircraft to minimise the delay to their flight. This is now a matter for the local police,” they added.
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