East Midlands Airport flight grounded after bomb scare

The arrest was made by armed police on Monday evening Credit: BPM Media

A 49-year-old man was escorted off a grounded Jet2 aircraft at East Midlands Airport after he stated that he was in possession of an explosive device.

Passengers at the airport were forced to wait for almost four hours as armed police and airport staff responded to concerns.

A spokesperson for Leicestershire Police said: "No explosive device has been found onboard and there is no suggestion that the threat made is viable."

The man was later detained and has since been released on bail.

The flight was originally scheduled to leave for Antalya in Turkey at 4:45pm but ended up departing at 8:18pm, meaning passengers arrived at their holiday destination at 2:02am.

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

"The flight has now departed, and we would like to apologise to everyone onboard for any inconvenience or upset caused by this unforeseen incident."

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