Knives discovered ahead of Stansted flight

Knives discovered ahead of Stansted flight

Knives discovered ahead of Stansted flight

Two men have been prevented from boarding a plane at Stansted Airport today after knives were found in their hand luggage.

Essex Police said the men were trying to board a Ryanair flight to Oslo in Norway. It is not clear whether the two men were travelling together or if they have any links to terrorism.

A total of six men were stopped from boarding the plane as a result of the finds. Police explained that a British national was found to have a small knife in his hand luggage when it was put through the scanner, while a second man, said to be of “Eastern origin” was then found to have a folding lock-knife in his hand luggage and was also stopped from boarding the passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800.

Police could not confirm if he was from the Middle or Far East but said he was travelling as part of a group of five.

The Ryanair plane, which was due to leave Stansted at 0700 BST this morning, was delayed for two hours while the men’s luggage was unloaded.

Ryanair said in a statement today: “A prohibited item was found by security staff on one of the passengers who was detained by police prior to boarding.

“Security staff at the airport and the police are now interviewing a number of passengers about the incident.

“As a precaution, all passengers were asked to leave the aircraft, at which time a full security search of the aircraft was carried out by security staff at the airport, before clearing it to return to service.”

The finds as the second anniversary of the September 11th terrorist atrocities looms. Al Qaeda has issued a warning ahead of the two-year anniversary, warning of further devastating attacks.