BA plane bomb threat was hoax

Dutch police gave the "all-clear" yesterday after a British Airways flight from Berlin to London was diverted to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport with a Dutch fighter jet escort because of a bomb threat.

"It's all over. It was a hoax," Marcel Witteveen, Dutch police commander, told reporters at Schiphol airport.

The Airbus A319, with 118 passengers and six crew on board, was shadowed by two F-16 fighters after its pilot requested an unscheduled landing at one of Europe's busiest international airports in the early afternoon.

"It was a bomb threat," a Dutch justice ministry spokesman said. "We have found no signs that it was meant to be a terror act. There is no terror organisation involved."

The plane was parked about one kilometre from the main terminal buildings while police combed it. Passengers were asked to identify their luggage. The plane was later given the all-clear to return without passengers to London, BA said.

The justice ministry spokesman said nothing had been found in the plane or the passengers' hand luggage. Mr Witteveen said sniffer dogs had searched the cargo hold but found nothing.

The justice ministry said an unidentified person in Germany made the threat in a call to a German TV station. Dutch and German authorities immediately scrambled the fighters as a precaution. They are still investigating who made the threat.

Two Greek Olympic Airlines planes flying from Athens to New York have been diverted to Britain and Ireland respectively this week after bomb threats. Both turned out to be hoaxes.