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A man arrested after a suspected bomb hoax on a UK-bound flight was sectioned yesterday under the Mental Health Act.
The 47-year-old from the north-west was arrested by armed officers who met flight QR23 from Doha, Qatar, when it arrived at Manchester Airport on Tuesday escorted by an RAF Typhoon jet.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “Following his arrest he was assessed by medical staff and again by a mental health team.
“He was subsequently sectioned to allow for a fuller assessment and appropriate treatment.”
The alert was sparked by fears of “a possible device on board” but Greater Manchester Police pronounced the Airbus A330-300 clear after searching it.
Some of the 269 passengers on board the flight from the Gulf described seeing the fighter from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire come close to the civilian aircraft as it flew towards Manchester, with pictures and video posted online.
The bomb scare is understood to have been sparked after a passenger passed a note to one of the cabin crew which was then passed to the captain. He alerted air-traffic control.
