British citizen charged for bomb threats against Ryanair

The police have apprehended a 51 year old British citizen who is behind bomb threats towards a Ryanair plane from London to Oslo Friday afternoon.

The incident started when the police received a report of a bomb threat against  a passenger plane at 11:50 AM, Friday. The threat was written on a piece of paper that was found on board the plane, Ryanair Informed VG. 

A short time after the plane landed on Gardermoen, 142 passengers and 6 crew members were transported away in buses. 

At the same time, the police apprehended a 51 year old British citizen that they believe was behind the threats.

Linked to previous threat incidents

The aircraft was parked at the outskirts of Oslo airport, and the bomb disposal team quickly began investigations into the aircraft. Right before 6PM on Friday, the on duty lawyer, Qasim Bhatti, of the Eastern Police District informed VG that the search ended without any bomb being found.

The police believe that the incident is related to a similar situation that happened with a different Ryanair plane earlier this week.

-” It is easy to see the two incidents in context, and there will be investigation-related questions to be examined.”, said the Head of Joint Operational Services in the Eastern Police District, Olav Unnestad, to NTB.

The second threat incident happened during a Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin earlier this week. A piece of paper was found at the toilet that said there was a bomb in the plane. 

The flight from Krakow was forced to land at Stansted airport in London. Two men, aged 26 and 47, were subsequently arrested by the police in Essex for being behind the threats, according to the BBC. No suspicious objects were found in the plane.

Questioned

It was at Stansted airport in London where the Ryanair flight to Oslo originated on Friday. The flight was on the way to Gardermoen when the threat came. The police do not know if the 51-year-old traveled alone or if he was part of a group. 

-” There are several reasons why we apprehended him, and we will return to this when the investigation has started.”, said Unnestad to NTB.

The 51-year-old will be questioned as soon as possible, said the police.

Danish fighter jets assists

To Danish F-16 fighters, on Friday afternoon, were observed heading north at very high speeds over Jylland.

A while later the Danish military confirmed that the two jets were sent to the passenger plane over Skagerrak. 

The two fighter planes broke the sound barrier on their way north, according to the military. The fighter planes followed the Ryanair flight all the way to Gardermoen, where they stopped to refuel before returning to Denmark. 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today