German police said three male passengers had been “temporarily arrested”.
An easyJet flight from the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana bound for London Stansted was diverted and evacuated on Saturday after crew were informed of “suspicious conversation” between three men on board that was believed to have included “terrorist content”.
The flight, which departed Ljubljana shortly before 5pm on Saturday, was diverted to Cologne, where passengers were evacuated and three male passengers were arrested.
#U23246 diverted to Cologne-Bonn Airport en route to London earlier. Local media reporting due to possible threat. https://t.co/bMJjZDEAC2 pic.twitter.com/9CpB5PM2Xf
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) June 10, 2017
German police released a statement on Saturday revealing that a backpack belonging to one of the passengers was inspected outside the aircraft and blown up in a controlled manner.
“Early Saturday evening (10 June), a traffic machine flying from London to Ljubljana in London was exceptionally intercepted. Three male passengers were temporarily arrested,” the statement read.
“During the flight, other passengers had made the crew aware of the men. According to the witnesses, these (conversations) had been the subject of terrorist content. Thereupon the flight captain had decided to carry out an evacuation in Cologne around 6pm. There, the machine was cleared in a secure area via emergency slides.”
The suspects were taken to the police department for interrogation, while testimony interviews were conducted with passengers on board the flight.
Because of the unscheduled landing and because of measures taken by German police, passengers remained in Cologne overnight, with easyJet looking after the hotel arrangements.
Passengers are scheduled to fly back to London at 1pm on Sunday.
