US: US authorities told a British Airways flight bound for New York to turn back because they did not want a passenger on board to land on American soil, a BA spokeswoman said yesterday.
US sources said a name on the passenger list matched that of a suspected member of a Moroccan militant group. British police have given no details about the man.
"We are speaking to a passenger from a flight that landed at Heathrow at about quarter to six," a spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said. "He hasn't actually been arrested," she added, declining to say how long he might be questioned for.
British Airways said flight 175 left London's Heathrow airport for New York's JFK just after 11.00 a.m. and received a call from US authorities to turn back at about 2.00 p.m. The BA spokeswoman said the detained man's luggage had been removed from the flight which is expected to take off again for New York later yesterday evening.
"The plane was diverted back to London following a request from the US authorities about a passenger they did not want to disembark," the spokeswoman said. The US official said the US requested the flight be diverted to Bangor, Maine, but British Airways asked for permission to return to London.
Last year a number of BA and Air France flights were cancelled because US officials cited intelligence pointing to an al-Qaeda plot to target aircraft.
At the times of the cancellations in January 2004 and December 2003, the US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said intelligence showed al-Qaeda was still interested in using aircraft, particularly commercial airliners, to carry out an attack against the US.
Yesterday, Mr Ridge, who is leaving government, reaffirmed the official view that the US remains al-Qaeda's top target, despite a recent decline in intelligence pointing specifically to plans for a US attack.