8 Feb 2010, 0933 hrs IST

MUMBAI, India: An Emirates flight bound for Manchester via Dubai was delayed by four hours on Sunday morning and a couple were deplaned after a caller told the airline that a passenger on board was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. The aircraft was approaching the runway around 10.20am when it was called back for a thorough security check.

Shahbaj Khan, a 70-year-old businessman, and his wife Munira, heading for Dubai for a wedding, were detained for interrogation and the flight left in the afternoon. "The eldest son of the businessman did not get along with his father and there was a property dispute. It is suspected that he tried to land his father in trouble," said a source.

"The couple was interrogated by CISF officials, Special Branch and by us. But we could not find anything suspicious. The caller, who gave the name Suresh Chavan, had intentionally played a prank and we are going to take stern action against him," said additional commissioner of police (western region) Amitabh Gupta.

An airport source said an airline employee received a call a little after 10am. "The caller spoke about a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist onboard the Emirates flight and gave his seat number as well," he added.

"The aircraft was still on ground when the officials from the Emirates operations department informed us about the security threat and asked the flight to be called back," said M G Junghare, who heads the Mumbai air traffic control.

"The aircraft had pushed back at 9.59am, but it was holding at taxiway M4 waiting for its turn to enter the runway for take-off when, at 10.20am, the commander was informed about a possible threat onboard," said the source, adding that the Boeing 777-300 with 356 passengers and crew was taken to T4, a remote parking bay, on instructions of ATC officials. The passengers were asked to deplane and taken to the terminal building's transit lounge.

The couple was identified and led away by officials. "The two passengers were handed over to the police," said an Emirates spokesperson.

The CISF officials then undertook a three-hour security check, which included combing the aircraft for hazardous materials, putting the remaining passengers through a pat-down inspection and manually checking each hand baggage after X-ray screening. The flight finally took off, without the couple, at 1:45pm.

Around 5:30pm, immigration officials handed over the two passengers to the Sahar police who took down their statement. They were released around 9 in the evening.

9:55am: Scheduled departure of Emirates Flight 505 to Dubai 9:59am: The plane with 356 passengers moves away from the parking bay 10:10am: Emirates staffer receives a call, saying a Laskhar-e-Taiba operative is onboard 10:15am: The airline informs Mumbai ATC, requests the flight be called back 10:20am: ATC gets in touch with Emirates flight commander, instructs him to return and take the aircraft to a remote parking bay 10:47am: Aircraft reaches bay T4, passengers asked to deplane, taken to the terminal buildings transit lounge for security checks. Two passengers detained. Aircraft, baggage searched 1:45pm: Flight leaves for Dubai

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