Man arrested on board Aer Lingus flight

PASSENGERS on board an Aer Lingus flight to Germany had a dramatic start to their journey yesterday when gardaí boarded the plane and arrested a man in his 20s.

The incident happened on board Aer Lingus flight EI692 which was due to depart Dublin airport for Dusseldorf at 7.15am.

The man arrested is a suspect in an alleged assault case in the south Dublin area and was being held for questioning yesterday at Dun Laoghaire Garda Station.

However, as the airplane was taxiing toward the runway, a pilot announcement informed the 165 passengers there was a technical fault and that he had to return to the terminal to allow an engineer replace a part.

“He also said we had to move quickly because there was another plane approaching,” one passenger told the Irish Examiner. “When we got back to the airport, we were told to wait in the cabin and sit there.”

A short time later, a Garda sergeant and plain-clothes detective came on board, arrested a man in his 20s and walked him off the aircraft.

The pilot then explained to the passengers that the reason they went back to the terminal from the runway was that, just before the scheduled take-off, the crew were told there was “a criminal” on board.

The pilot said he had given the “technical fault” reason not to alert the suspect.

The plane left Dublin around an hour behind schedule and landed safely in Dusseldorf just less than two hours later.

An Aer Lingus spokesperson confirmed yesterday an incident had taken place on board flight EI692, Dublin-Dusseldorf.

He wouldn’t comment on whether it is customary for a pilot to put forward a “technical fault” explanation when a flight is delayed on the request of the gardaí. “We don’t comment on anything in relation to security,” he said.

A Garda spokesperson said the incident arose when gardaí in Dun Laoghaire became aware a suspect in an alleged assault incident intended to travel from Dublin to Dusseldorf yesterday morning.

The man arrested was detained at Dun Laoghaire.