Praying Moroccans spark bomb alert on flight to Rome

A passenger on board a Rome-bound flight sparked a bomb alert – because they were suspicious about two other passengers, Moroccans, who were praying.

Published: 30 June 2016 09:24 CEST

Praying Moroccans spark bomb alert on flight to Rome

The plane was forced to turn back to Ancona. Photo: Elliott Brown

The captain was forced to turn the flight back to Ancona, in Marche, where the jet was checked by sniffer dogs and police from Digos, Italy’s anti-terrror squad, Today.it reported.

No bomb was found and the flight left for Rome a few hours later.

This is the latest in a series of flight disruptions in recent months because of fears over passengers “looking suspicious”.

In May, two men were removed from a Rome-bound flight from the UK because a British couple thought they looked like terrorists.

A passenger was also taken off an easyJet flight in Pisa in early April after another passenger complained of “suspicious behaviour”.

On the same day, Meghary Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, from London, told Britain’s ITV news that he was the victim of racial profiling after being asked to leave an easyJet plane that was readying for take-off from Rome on March 29th because another passenger “felt uncomfortable”.