British police have arrested two men on grounds of endangering an aircraft, after forcing a Pakistan International Airlines carrier to land in Stansted airport near London on Friday.
Little is known about the unspecified incident, but according to a spokesperson for the airport who talked to Reuters, passengers exited the aircraft safely and no one was hurt.
The flight from Pakistan was scheduled to land at Manchester airport in northern England, but was forced into an emergency landing after British fighter jets ushered the plane back onto the ground.
Flight PK709 from Lahore, Pakistan carried almost 300 passengers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense said typhoon fighter jets were sent out from the Royal Air Force's Coningsby base to guide the passenger plane to Stansted Airport after an incident occurred on board.
Authorities have yet to specify what exactly happened, but did issue a statement after the event occurred.
"Essex Police has boarded a passenger plane diverted to Stansted Airport and two men have been arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft," read the police statement.
The two men, aged 30 and 41, were taken from the plane into custody for further investigation.
According to spokesperson for the airline Mashhood Tajwar, passengers thought they heard the two suspects make a threat on the plane.
"Two passengers, both British citizens, said words to the effect that they will blow up the plane," he said. "We don't have the exact words that they said. This was conveyed to the captain, who immediately told air traffic control, which asked the plane to divert."
Later, the two passengers supposedly said they were kidding, but both the airline crew and police officers went ahead with the necessary protocol for these types of threats.
Britain is on tense, high-alert watch, two days after a British soldier was cleaved to death in the middle of the street in Woolwich. The country is acutely aware of any potential terrorist attacks.
Essex police said they will continue investigating and responding to the incident.
