An Emirates flight with 228 passengers and 18 crew members that left Athens International Airport for New York on Thursday night was forced to return to Athens on orders from Greek police, police sources said.
“After foreign authorities reported that there was a suspicious person on board this plane, the Greek police ordered it to return to Athens International Airport – Eleftherios Venizelos,” a Greek police spokeswoman told AFP.
The Emirates EK-210 aircraft, escorted by two Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter jets, returned about 45 minutes after taking off from Athens airport, the same source said.
According to the first information, it was the American authorities who notified the Greek police about the presence of a “suspicious person” on board the plane.
Shortly before the return of the Emirates plane, another Dubai-bound Emirates plane was inspected at Athens airport on Thursday evening before take-off.
According to a Greek airport source, authorities did not identify any suspects, and the plane eventually departed after a nearly five-hour delay to Dubai.
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