Essex Police armed officers filmed boarding bomb hoax flight at Stansted Airport
Watch the moment armed police board a flight at Stansted Airport. (Video: James Humphreys)
Footage has emerged of armed police officers boarding an EasyJet plane to arrest three people on suspicion of making a bomb hoax.
Essex Police responded to a security alert onboard the stationary flight heading to Amsterdam from London Stansted just after 7.40pm on Wednesday.
The force said the airport runway was closed "for a short time" as the plane was moved to another area while officers investigated.
Other emergency services were at the scene, including fire crews and the East of England Ambulance Service's Incident Response Unit.
Social media footage shows armed specialist officers walking onto the plane, with passengers looking concerned.
Following a search of the plane police said they were "satisfied there is nothing of concern on board."
Specialist officers removed three people, who were all arrested on suspicion of making a bomb hoax.
Two men - aged 18 and 22 - and an 18 year-old woman were arrested.
Essex Police said they are currently in custody.
James Humphreys said he was on the flight and was due to be heading to a work conference.
"They told us there was an “operational issue” several times, then told us we had to taxi to another location," he said.
"We sat in this new location for about another hour as the police arrived, who then boarded the plane."
Others took to social media to say their flights were diverted to other airports while the runway was closed.
One of those, Malin Johanna, was on her way back from studying in Toulouse, France.
She said: "I am on back to back coaches until 3am now. All of the crew were very helpful."
The incident comes just a week after a Jet2 flight from Turkey to Manchester was diverted to Stansted following reports of a “potential threat on board”.
No threat was established on that occasion.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know