Armed police storm Jet2 plane after passenger claims 'bomb is on board'
Footage captures the "intimidating" moment armed police stormed a Jet2 plane at a UK airport during a security threat.
Officers rushed to reports of a 'man in possession of an explosive device' on the plane due to leave East Midlands Airport. The Jet2 flight was delayed and passengers were held on the taxiway for three hours, due to what was initially described as a problem with luggage.
A man was later arrested - but police said no explosive device was found.
But the unit, which included sniffer dogs, from Leicestershire Police arrived to detain the man and, after he was escorted off the jet, the plane left for Antalya, Turkey on Monday night. One 35-year-old dad, travelling with his wife and four-year-old daughter, said the atmosphere was "alarming".
The officers were filmed after embarking the plane to arrest a man (Daily Mirror)
Leicestershire Police said it was 'in the best interest of public safety' to send armed officers (Daily Mirror)"There was a 45-minute window when we actually knew that it was somebody on the plane but nobody knew who it was," the man told Nottinghamshire Live.
Passenger spots graffiti begging Jet2 to stop playing 'moronic' Jess Glynne song
"We hadn't actually taken off but we'd been taxiing around the runway to the take-off point and it was then they paused the flight... we didn't move for about 15 minutes. The captain initially said there might have been a mix-up with the luggage and that we needed to taxi back.
"They were giving us updates every 15 minutes and they eventually told us there was a security issue, but that it was just routine and nothing serious. We were then surrounded by police cars and SWOT teams, all there with machine guns, and at that point we knew it wasn't good.
"There was a period of two hours where all the police were surrounding the plane but not coming on, which was quite intimidating actually. We were wondering, if it's just a luggage mix-up, then why are we surrounded by police?
"Your imagination runs wild and I was thinking if there is an explosive device on here, I've got my wife and four-year-old daughter with me. The Jet2 staff were very nice overall, but I think people were quite frustrated that the updates we were getting had been fabricated, because it had obviously gone from a luggage mix-up to a security threat."
The suspect has since been released on bail while investigations continue, Leicestershire Police said. The constabulary said some officers were armed "in the interests of public safety".
A spokesman said yesterday: "Officers worked with airport staff and with the aircraft crew to provide an immediate response to the report. In the interests of public and officer safety, armed officers were also deployed to the area of the aircraft."
The FlightRadar24 website shows that flight LS653 had a scheduled take-off of 4.45pm, but eventually left the East Midlands at 8.18pm. Rather than the scheduled 11.10pm, this means passengers landed in Turkey just before 2am.
Jet2 previously apologised to all passengers "for any inconvenience or upset caused by this unforeseen incident." Leicestershire Police added: "Following the arrest, the aircraft has been fully searched. No explosive device has been found onboard and there is no suggestion that the threat made is viable."
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