Gardaí furious over failure to alert them about US soldier
Local gardaí first learned of the situation the following day after a query from the Department of Justice.
A cleaner alerted SAA staff on duty who then inspected the plane to verify the report made to them by the cleaner.
However, SAA did not take the mater any further and made no effort to contact the gardaí, the Irish Examiner has learned.
It is believed that gardaí have lodged a strong protest with the SAA over the failure to alert gardaí on duty at the time.
Gardaí only became aware of the matter after the US embassy informed the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday that a soldier under arrest for a military misdemeanour was on board a flight which stopped over at Shannon.
The Department of Justice sought information from garda headquarters in Ennis on Monday more than 24 hours after the plane left for the US.
This was the first that local gardaí learned about the arrested soldier.
Senior gardaí and SAA management are carrying out an investigation into why the discovery of the handcuffed solider was not reported immediately to airport gardaí.
A cleaner first noticed the soldier on entering the plane.
After leaving the plane, the cleaner alerted his employers, Servisair, who in turn contacted the SAA duty office.
A member of the SAA staff then went on board to confirm that a person was on board in handcuffs.
However, it is believed that the SAA staff member did not file a report for airport management.
One airport source said: “There was a breakdown in communications within the SAA and then between the airport authorities and the gardaí. It was human error.”
The flight, which was on its way from Kuwait to a US Air Force base in Ohio, landed with more than 180 unarmed soldiers just after 2pm on Sunday.
