Two held after RAF jet escorts plane into UK

Two men were yesterday being questioned by police after a passenger plane was diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airport.

They were held on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft after an RAF Typhoon jet was scrambled to escort the plane which was travelling to the UK from Pakistan.

Officers boarded Pakistan International Airlines flight PK709 and removed two men aged 30 and 41 from the plane. Early indications were that there was a fight on board and the incident was not terrorism-related.

A police spokesman said yesterday: “Essex Police have boarded a passenger plane diverted to Stansted Airport and two men have been arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft. They have been removed from the plane.”

The jet was scrambled following an incident about 10 minutes before the plane, which departed Lahore, was due to land in Manchester at 2pm.

According to one of the passengers, the aircraft’s cabin crew said two men had repeatedly tried to get into the cockpit.

Umari Nauman told Sky News: “The cabin crew informed us that basically they tried to come into the cockpit a few times and because they had been asked not to do that, they got into a bit of an argument with the crew and made a few threats.”

She said passengers were ordered to leave their possessions on board before leaving the plane.

The plane remained on the north side of Stansted with flights carrying on as normal.

An airport spokesman said the passengers were to be taken to a reception centre in Stansted for possible police interviews, before being transported to Manchester.