Pakistani with fake passport removed from easyJet flight
Authorities removed a Pakistani man from a flight from Rome to London due to fears that he might have been travelling on a fake passport.
The alarm was raised on the same day that Italy’s interior minister Angelino Alfano announced that a Pakistani was among nine foreigners expelled from Italy since December over concerns they were plotting terrorist attacks.
The 33-year-old man was taken off the easyJet plane at Rome airport, just minutes before it took off for Luton.
In a statement this morning, easyJet said Italian authorities had confirmed that it was ‘a straightforward case of identity fraud’. It said UK security systems worked effiectively to identify the issue.
EasyJet confirmed the man had been removed from flight EZY4917 at Fiumicino airport on Sunday, at around 12:30 local time, causing the flilght to be delayed by about an hour.
As a result, five other passengers on the plane unconnected with the suspect opted not to continue on the flight. The airline said they were switched to later flights.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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