The CIA would have informed the Athens airport that a man of Saudi Arabian origin was on board a flight departing from Athens. Another Dubai-bound flight was also heavily searched.
Greek authorities are on high alert at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport. Two flights, destined, one for Dubai and the other for New York, were forced to return to Athens, one of which was escorted by fighter jets. According to the website of the Greek weekly Protothema, the CIA informed the Athens airport late in the afternoon that a suspect of Saudi origin was on one of the two flights from Athens. First, it took off in the direction of Dubai when it was forced to return to its starting point “For technical reasonsannounced the pilot. Subsequently, the passengers were dropped off and dozens of policemen searched. “We were searched and had our shoes removed“One of the passengers told the Greek base. At the end of these searches, the passengers returned to their seats on the plane and departed for Dubai more than five hours late.
A second Emirates Airline flight, identified as EK-210, had already departed for New York with 228 passengers and 18 cabin crew on board. While he was in Sardinia, Italy, France would also have refused a hasty landing. This forced the flight to turn around. Immediately, and on NATO orders, F-16 fighter jets took off from the Souda base in Crete to escort the plane to the Greek capital. The aircraft carefully avoided flying over populated land for safety reasons. The car landed in the evening. Orderly forces were deployed around the device, which activated “Flight, passenger and hold restrictions“, according to a police source.
Local media have been trying to make sense of the case, especially since the Greek secret services would have deemed it important enough to call a crisis unit.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”
