Austria halts flight to UK over claim of terrorist onboard
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A Vienna-London EasyJet flight was cancelled just before takeoff on March 26, 2016 after a passenger claimed that a man sitting next to her might be a Muslim extremist. (AFP photo)
Austrian authorities in Vienna halted a flight to London just prior to takeoff and evacuated the aircraft because a passenger had claimed that the man sitting next to her might be an ISIL Takfiri terrorist.
According to Press TV, the incident occurred on Saturday when the flight, operated by the UK-based EasyJet airliner, was abruptly cancelled after the female passenger said she saw text messages on the man’s mobile phone “related to” the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
"The woman believed that she saw messages related to Daesh (ISIL) on the man's mobile phone," Austrian Interior Ministry’s Spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck is quoted as saying in an AFP report.
According to the report, the woman’s claims prompted security officers to cancel the takeoff, evacuate all passengers, and check their luggage.
"Nothing was found however, and the aircraft has since taken off, but without either the man or the woman. They are now being questioned," added the Austrian official.
The man accused in the case was identified by Grundboeck as an Iraqi citizen, but the identity of the accuser and her nationality remains unclear.
The Austrian official did not elaborate on what the woman saw on the mobile phone of the Iraqi passenger that was so alarming that warrant the cancellation and evacuation of the flight.
ME
