RAF jet scrambled over Pak plane
Two men have been arrested after RAF Typhoon jets were launched to escort a passenger plane travelling from Pakistan to the UK, police have said.
Officers boarded Pakistan International Airlines flight PK709, which had been due to land at Manchester, after it was diverted to Stansted Airport.
Two men, aged 30 and 41, are being held on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft, Essex Police said.
A PIA spokesman said all passengers on board were safe.
The plane reportedly left Lahore - the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab - at 09:35 local time. It was due in at Manchester at 14:00 BST.
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said there was a suggestion there had been threats on board during the flight, involving some sort of weapon or bomb - although this was unconfirmed.
Emergency signal
However, one passenger told the BBC that the pilot told them there had been threats.
Stansted Airport said the pilot had alerted the authorities to the incident, but it did not say what that incident was.
A spokesman for the airport said passengers were being taken off the plane.
"They will be taken to a reception centre in the airport where police may wish to interview them about what they have seen," he said.
"At some point police and the airline will arrange for their onward transportation to Manchester."
Stansted Airport earlier said on Twitter that it was operating normally.
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft which was due to land at Manchester Airport at 13.30 BST today has been diverted to our sister airport London Stansted, where the authorities are investigating."
Mashhood Tajwar, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), said the incident followed a call to air traffic control.
He said that about 20 minutes to half an hour before landing, information received by air traffic control in Manchester indicated there might have been "some security threat".
"But so far it has not been ascertained what was the real motive behind that call," said Mr Tajwar.
He added: "The plane was diverted to Stansted and it has landed safely over there and all passengers are safe, and they have disembarked."
PIA said there were 308 passengers on board, as well as 14 crew including pilots, with a mixture of Pakistani and British passport holders.
'Serious incident'
The MoD said responsibility for the incident had passed to Essex Police and the Home Office.
An MoD spokesman said the incident was now a police matter and that "our involvement is over".
He said Typhoon jets could be scrambled after the pilot or crew of a passenger aircraft sends out an emergency signal.
"The purpose of going up is to investigate what the situation is," he said.
"Often when a Quick Reaction Alert aircraft is launched the details are not known, but it is known that a signal has been sent.
"Part of the purpose of sending a Typhoon up is to have a look and see what they can see."
Philip Baum, of Aviation Security International, told the BBC: "This is certainly a significant incident, however the fact that fighter jets were scrambled to intercept is not unusual.
"Fighter jets are scrambled when there is a bomb threat, when there is a hijack, when the wrong transponder code is used or if an aircraft cannot communicate with the ground. Often the result is when there is an unruly passenger on board.
"What is interesting in this case is that it would appear that the aircraft was only 10 minutes from landing - these are initial reports coming in - when they decided to divert to Stansted. So to actually change a destination 10 minutes from landing would certainly imply that there was some serious incident taking place."
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