From today's Edinburgh Evening News
(
www.edinburghnews.com)
Stray bullet on plane sparks alert at airport
A stray bullet found on an international flight sparked a massive security alert at Edinburgh Airport.
Armed police surrounded the flight from Cork in Ireland when it landed yesterday afternoon following reports a passenger had spotted the live ammunition on the floor of the cabin shortly before landing. They reported it to the cabin crew who told the pilot and he immediately called ahead initiating a huge security operation involving armed police officers, Special Branch and fire crews.
The 38 passengers on board were searched as soon as the plane landed, before police
investigations concluded the ammunition did not belong to anyone on board the scheduled Aer Arann Express flight RE463.
It is thought the bullet had been taken on to the plane at some point before it set off from Cork airport just before midday yesterday - and may have been rolling around on board for sometime.
An airport insider said: "The flight was about 15 minutes out of Edinburgh. The captain called air traffic control at Edinburgh and declared an emergency stating ‘live ammunition’ had been discovered on board the flight - that was his exact phrase.
"In a conversation after the flight had landed, the captain stated that he was now in possession of the ‘offending item’."
On landing, passengers were instructed to stay on board and full emergency procedures were put into place, as the aircraft was met by fire fighters, Special Branch officers and armed police.
Worried about the bullet, which is understood to have been a 9mm live round, police surrounded the plane and led the passengers off the plane in small groups.
One eye-witness, who did not want to be named, said: "There were three tactical support units and two armed police units on the runway. There were police with guns surrounding the plane.
"They took the passengers off in groups of four. It was quite a dramatic scene."
Officers spent the afternoon interviewing the passengers but, as it became apparent the incident was not as serious as initially feared, they were gradually allowed to leave the airport and continue on with their journeys.
One police insider said: "There does not appear to have been any link between the bullet and anybody on board the plane."
Niamh Murphy, spokeswoman for Aer Arann said: "We can confirm that an incident occurred and that the RE463 flight which left Cork at 11.55am and landed at 1.30pm was met by members of Lothian and Borders Police.
"There were 38 passengers on board and all were allowed to leave the aircraft. We have been advised that because this is an active investigation we cannot comment further."
A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police added: "A full physical search was carried out of all 38 passengers and their baggage as well as that of the crew and of course the plane itself.
"All the details of everybody on the plane were also checked. After a full investigation at the scene everybody was allowed to proceed with their journey and the plane was allowed to resume service."
Aer Arann Express launched its Edinburgh-Cork service in August last year to compete with Irish budget airline Ryanair’s Edinburgh-Dublin routes.