Ex-policeman held for questioning after Air France bomb hoax

A retired French police officer travelling on an Air France flight was detained after a fake bomb hidden in a lavatory forced his Paris-bound flight to make an emergency landing in Kenya, according to prosecutors.

The hoax — the fourth against Air France in recent weeks — comes amid heightened concerns about extremist violence in many countries, and aggravated passenger jitters around the holidays.

The man in custody is a former police officer detained upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to an official in the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny.