Air France flight bound for Chicago forced to divert to Ireland after crew find ‘suspicious’ phone

Air France flight bound for Chicago is forced to divert to Ireland after crew find ‘suspicious’ phone that causes a security meltdown

  • Flight travelling from Paris to Chicago on Sunday when it was diverted to Ireland 
  • Crew found the phone and were forced to land after no passengers claimed it 
  • The phone was scanned by police at Shannon Airport before it was deemed safe

An Air France plane bound for Chicago had to be diverted to Ireland after a suspicious unattended mobile phone caused a security alert.   

Flight AF-136 was travelling from Paris on Sunday when the pilot requested to turn back and land at Shannon airport for ‘security reasons’.

It is understood that crew found the phone and were forced to land the plane after no passengers claimed it belonged to them. 

A plane bound for Chicago had to be diverted to Ireland after a suspicious unattended mobile phone caused a security alert

The flight landed at around 4pm and was met by fire crew, airport police officers and gardaí who removed the phone from the plane to be scanned before it was deemed safe, The Journal reports.

Officers believe the phone may have been left by a previous passenger and was not spotted by cleaning staff. 

Passengers were forced to stay on board while the phone was checked before the plane refueled and took off nearly three hours after it landed. 

A representative for An Garda Síochána told the publication: ‘The phone was removed from the aircraft and taken to the terminal where it was X-rayed by airport police officers and gardaí.’ 

‘Once we were satisfied the phone was safe, it was returned to Air France staff.’

While the police said the phone was given back to staff, Air France said in its statement that the plane landed in Shannon ‘to hand over the phone to the authorities before leaving for Chicago.’ 

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