Thanks Flygirl - it did help. I take it from your post that some of these people were permitted on board unaccompanied. Was this company policy? Was a risk assessment carried out by the company prior to admittance? Did it make you nervous? The reason I ask is that during my research I have read of incidences where an unaccompanied person such as this has hijacked the flight rather than risk returning to their home nation.
ff, I probably should have been clearer in the original post - I'm not so interested in acts of pure air rage, rather, the people who have already committed an offence (even as minor as overstaying a visa) and are being transported elsewhere. Thanks again to you both.