Man arrested as RAF jets escort Qatar Airways flight to Manchester

 British police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of making a hoax bomb threat that forced a Qatar Airways plane to make an emergency landing under military jet escort.

"A man who was onboard the plane... has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat," Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said on its official Twitter page.

Passengers reported that the suspect had been hauled off the plane by armed police, less than an hour after it had landed. The plane was quickly surrounded by fire engines and police cars. The other passengers have remained on the plane, but are reportedly about to be let off shortly. 

Chief Superintendent John O'Hare earlier said that the jet escort had been scrambled because of the pilot of the passenger plane sent an alert about a possible device on board. It is now believed that the threat was a hoax, although more details about the incident are still emerging, with authorities thus far staying tight lipped on the exact nature of the incident. 

"Qatar Airways can confirm that flight QR23 from Doha to Manchester, an Airbus A330-300, landed safely at Manchester Airport ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 13:15," Qatar Airways said in a statement. "There were 269 passengers and 13 Qatar Airways crew on board.

The crew had received a threat about a possible device on board and QatarAirways immediately took all the necessary precautions to alert British authorities. The crew is now fully assisting police at the airport with their inquiries [...] As this is a matter of a police investigation, we cannot comment further at this time," the airline added. 

A witness told Sky News television that the airport was "on lock-down" and that no planes were landing or taking off, but GMP later tweeted that it was "business as usual" and that the matter was being dealt with as an isolated incident.

The incident caused the diversion of the plane carrying the Manchester United football team back from its pre-season tour of the United States, local paper the Manchester Evening News reported.