LONDON: A man arrested over a suspected bomb hoax on a Manchester-bound Qatar Airways flight has been ordered to take a psychiatric evaluation under Britain’s Mental Health Act, police said yesterday.
The 47-year-old from northwest England had been detained by armed officers who met flight QR23 from Doha when it arrived at Manchester Airport on Tuesday, escorted by a Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jet.
Greater Manchester Police said that the man had now been committed under the mental health act, known as “sectioned” in Britain.
“Following his arrest he was assessed by medical staff and again by a mental health team,” a spokesman said.
“He was subsequently sectioned to allow for a fuller assessment and appropriate treatment.”
Witnesses on board the flight, which had 282 people on board, said armed police entered the aircraft and escorted the suspect off with his hands on his head.
Police said the incident arose when the pilot received information about a possible device on board the plane, having been handed a note from a passenger.
Qatar Airways said there were 269 passengers and 13 crew aboard the Airbus A330-300 plane.
GENEVA: A man arrested this week suspected of involvement in the theft and leaking of a medical file on injured ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was found hanged in his cell yesterday, prosecutors said.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, worked for a Swiss helicopter air rescue company, Rega, which organised the sportsman’s transport from a French hospital to Switzerland in June, the Zurich prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The man, arrested on Tuesday and interrogated by police, had denied any wrongdoing. He was being detained in a Zurich jail cell, the statement said.
He was found hanged when officers came to bring him breakfast before a scheduled hearing before a judge.
According to an initial investigation, no one else was involved in his hanging, the prosecutor’s office said. French prosecutors last month tracked down the IP address of the computer used in the theft of the medical records to Zurich-based Rega, which is the main operator of air ambulances in Switzerland.
Agencies
