Bomb Threat At Gatwick Airport - Armed Police Surround Plane

Monday, 20 December 2021 11:43

By Jade McLean

Passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight found themselves surrounded by armed police as they landed at Gatwick on Sunday morning (Dec 19).

The flight landed in the UK just after 9am from Istanbul.

It was met by armed officers who had been called to Gatwick over a bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax.

One passenger told Mirror Online that police spent five hours screening people and their luggage, but nothing was found.

In a statement, Sussex Police said:

"On Sunday 19 December we received a report of an apparent bomb threat that had been made to a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul that was due to arrive at Gatwick.

"The aircraft arrived safely into Gatwick at 9.20am to a remote area of the airport while emergency services attended.

"It was swiftly established that the call did not relate to a genuine threat, everyone on board left the aircraft and passengers went on their way.

"We worked with Gatwick Airport management and with Air Traffic Control to ensure the incident was resolved quickly and safely and there was minimal impact on the normal routine of the airport. An investigation into the threat is now underway."

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