By IANS
Panama City : Panamanian police have arrested six Syrians for reportedly suspicious behaviour on board an airliner flying from Cuba, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.
Initially, police said the arrested men had tried to divert the plane to Damascus after threatening the crew of the Copa Airlines Flight 231 from Havana to Panama City. But the director of the Panamanian National Police Rolando Mirones later said the Syrians did not make any overt threats or demands.
Mirones said that there was no violent situation of any kind on board the aircraft.
The spokesman for Panama’s Civil Aviation department, Victor de la Hoz, said that one of the men had removed a knife from among the cutlery used in first class.
The “suspicious” passengers did not speak Spanish and, apparently they repeated that they wanted to go to Damascus, the police spokesman told EFE.
“The flight landed without problems in Panama and these people are being investigated by the appropriate authorities,” a Copa Airlines statement said.