Man who boarded flight has mental illness past

A MAN who evaded security and forced his way onto a Dublin-bound flight out of Malaga airport without a boarding card has a history of mental illness but no criminal or terrorist links.

An investigation has been launched into how the man managed to evade security at the airport and board a CityJet plane preparing to take off for Dublin with 90 passengers.

The Spanish man, in his forties and from Madrid, forced his way past staff and attempted to take a seat after being asked to produce a boarding card, which he did not have.

Cabin crew were involved in a stand-up argument with the man in front of dozens of Irish holiday-makers. Police were called following Saturday’s incident and the man was forcibly taken off the plane and into custody.

He was released a number of hours later.

CityJet has asked for a full investigation into how the man managed to pass through security checks and board the bus from the terminal to the parked plane.

A company spokesman yesterday said management is satisfied its procedures and security systems were not at fault.

The airline claimed it was unlikely the man would have been able to pass through the airline’s departure desk in the terminal as he would have been stopped and asked for his boarding card at that point.

However, it appears he did manage to pass through a security checkpoint and airport authorities are checking whether he managed to get out of the terminal via an emergency exit.

He was not of Middle-Eastern origin, an Arab or a terror suspect, as one report claimed. That conclusion appears to be based on one passenger’s description of the man as “swarthy”.

The CityJet spokesman said the man, after failing to produce his boarding card at the door of the plane, pushed past staff and attempted to take a seat.

The man was removed from the aircraft and taken into police custody. The passengers and their luggage were off-loaded and a security check was carried out. All passengers were checked again against the luggage to ensure no baggage was unclaimed.”

The flight departed nearly 90 minutes behind schedule, according to CityJet, although passengers claimed it was between two and three hours.