TWO PEOPLE have been arrested after an Royal Air Force fighter jet was scrambled to escort a passenger jet as it made an unscheduled diversion to London’s Stansted airport earlier today.
The Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore had been due to fly to Manchester, but the flight was diverted to Stansted after a passenger became loud and disruptive.
While the plane was diverted as a precaution, an RAF Typhoon was scrambled to accompany the aircraft to Stansted.
Essex Police said two men, aged 41 and 30, had been arrested and were being interviewed by police detectives “on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft”.
The Guardian said it understood that the incident was not being treated as a terrorism-related offence.
The UK has been on a heightened state of alert since the killing of a soldier in a street attack in Woolwich, south-east London on Wednesday, in what appears to have been an Islamist-motivated attack.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the same Pakistani International Airlines flight had been diverted to Stansted in September 2011 after a bomb scare.
It quoted a UK Ministry of Defence spokesman who said RAF jets were scrambled whenever a passenger aircraft sent an emergency signal.
“The purpose of going up is to investigate what the situation is,” the spokesman said.
“Often when a Quick Reaction Alert aircraft is launched the details are not known, but it is known that a signal has been sent.”
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