East Midlands Airport: Bomb alert sees man removed from plane

Armed officers have taken a man off a plane at East Midlands Airport due to a bomb alert.

Police said the alarm was raised at about 17:15 BST on Monday due to reports of a man saying he had an explosive device.

Police and airport staff responded and a suspect was detained but no trace of a dangerous item was found.

Witnesses said the Jet2 flight to Turkey was delayed by about three hours and there were delays to other flights.

The flight was scheduled to depart for Antalya at 16:45 but did not take off until 20:18.

Leicestershire Police said a 49-year-old male passenger was arrested on suspicion of possession of an explosive substance.

He has since been released on bail while inquiries continue, the force added.

The arrest was made on Monday evening

A spokesperson said: "At 5.16pm today (Monday), police were informed of a report of a male aboard an aircraft at East Midlands Airport who stated he was in possession of an explosive device.

"The aircraft was on the ground at the time of the incident.

"Officers worked with airport staff and with the aircraft crew to provide an immediate response to the report. In the interests of public and officer safety, armed officers were also deployed to the area of the aircraft.

"Following instruction, the man safely left the aircraft where he was arrested.

"The aircraft has been fully searched. No explosive device has been found onboard and there is no suggestion that the threat made is viable.

"Following initial assessment, it was not deemed that evacuation of the aircraft was required."

A Jet2 spokesperson said: "We can confirm that flight LS653 from East Midlands to Antalya returned to stand yesterday evening so that police could offload a disruptive passenger.

"The flight departed after the passenger was offloaded.

"We would like to apologise to everyone onboard for any inconvenience or upset caused by this unforeseen incident."