Man released after false ISIL alarm on Vienna-London flight

VIENNA - Reuters

REUTERS photo

An Iraqi man hauled off an easyJet flight in Vienna just before takeoff after a passenger thought he might be an Islamic extremist, has been released, officials said on March 27.

"There was nothing suspicious found and he has been allowed to continue his journey," interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck told AFP.
 
"The only thing outstanding is a detailed analysis of his mobile phone," he said of the incident which took place on March 26.
 
A woman sitting next to him on the London-bound plane had alerted cabin crew after seeing what she thought could be messages related to the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group on his phone.
 
All passengers had to disembark while the Airbus and all bags were checked. It finally took off three hours later but without the man or the woman, who were questioned.
 
The incident comes as Europe steps up security following the March 22 bombings in Brussels, in which three suicide bombers killed 28 people in a series of attacks claimed by ISIL.