London, Jan 9, IRNA – Three men remained in custody Saturday after being removed from a Dubai-bound flight at Heathrow airport by anti-terror police following a verbal threat made to air crew.
Armed police boarded the Emirates flight with 331 passengers on board as it was taxiing on the tarmac on Friday night but the plane was later released after nothing was found from searches.
“Three men aged 58, 48 and 36 were arrested and are now in police custody. They have been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat,” Scotland Yard said.
The incident comes amid heightened security concerns at airports across the world in the wake of an alleged bomb plot on a transatlantic airline as it was landing at Detroit on Christmas Day.
“Following remarks made as Emirates flight EK004 prepared to depart London Heathrow for Dubai, crew alerted the Metropolitan Police who subsequently boarded the aircraft and detained three passengers,” Emirates airline said in a statement.
The Times newspaper said that initial reports suggested the threat was not serious, and that the alert could have been raised after a comment from a drunken passenger.