Saudi Arabia denied today a British media report that security forces had seized light planes packed with explosives near Riyadh's King Khalid airport, foiling a suicide plot to blow up a Western airliner.
"A Saudi security official confirmed that the story...was not true," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
"The official said neither the British Foreign Office nor British Airways are able to confirm such information," SPA said.
The Mail on Sunday quoted Mr Patrick Mercer, security policy chief for Britain's Conservative Party, as saying two pilots apparently intended to crash their light planes into a Western jet as it taxied slowly on the tarmac.
It said British Airways was believed to be the most likely target, although several other European carriers also use the airport.
"My understanding is that (the light planes) were found on the flight line and that the plan was to fly them into a passenger jet either about to land or take off," Mr Mercer told the paper.
The two pilots were among several people arrested after the planes were discovered some time in the past few weeks, the paper said.
A BA spokesman said the airline had no knowledge of the incident described in the paper.