Three men who were held after passengers reported they were talking about ‘terrorist matters’ are released without charge

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

German authorities have released without charge three British men detained in Germany late on Saturday after their conversations onboard an easyJet flight from Slovenia to London prompted the pilot to divert to Cologne.

“The criminal investigation against them has been halted. No evidence was found,” a local police spokesman said. “We now believe that there was never any real danger.”

Nine people received medical treatment after all 151 passengers were evacuated from the Airbus 319 aircraft using emergency slides.

It was not immediately clear when the men, who were returning to London after a business trip, would travel on to London. The remaining passengers had departed on another easyJet plane for London earlier on Sunday.

No comment was immediately available from easyJet.

The aircraft landed in Cologne on Saturday after passengers reported that the men were talking about “terrorist matters”, according to the statement.



The trio – identified by Cologne police as British citizens aged 31, 38 and 48 – remained in custody. “The questioning of one of the flight passengers is currently ongoing”, a spokesperson said.



In addition to the talk of “terrorist matters”, witnesses had also noticed one of the three men carrying a book that pictured a precision rifle.

A backpack seized by German police and blown up outside the plane did not contain any explosives, a spokesperson said. Security staff had been alerted by “wirings” inside the bag.



Police carried out security checks on the aircraft and questioned passengers after all 151 on board had been safely evacuated.



Six aircraft were diverted to other airports as a result of the police investigation, the airport said. It said air traffic was affected for several hours as a result of the incident.



Bild newspaper quoted a spokesman for the German federal police as saying the pilot decided to land the aircraft in Cologne after passengers told airline personnel they had heard the men using words including “bomb” and “explosive”.



An easyJet spokeswoman said: “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY3246 from Ljubljana to London Stansted diverted to Cologne on Saturday. The captain took the decision as a precaution to enable the aircraft to go through additional security checks in Cologne where the aircraft was met by the police. In compliance with the local authorities’ guidance, passengers disembarked to allow additional security checks to be performed.”

Reuters contributed to this report