Nine men were thrown off a flight after one of them shouted “Allahu Akbar” reportedly as “a joke”.
The flight was due to leave Zaventem airport in Brussels. Passengers were boarding the Ryanair flight when one of them heard someone shout “Allahu Akbar”.
All the passengers were ordered to get off the plane for fear that there was a bomb on board, the Daily Mail reported.
Police confirmed the incident to the local VTM Nieuws channel which said the nine men were all of Belgian nationality. All the luggage also had to be taken off as the bomb squad was called in with sniffer dogs. Nothing was found and the plane was allowed to leave.
“The flight commander refused to take these nine people. One of them was a foolish joker and called ‘Allahu Akbar’,” said a police officer. The men could face prosecution as it is an offence to cause a false bomb scare, the Telegraph reported.
In March 2016, the Zaventem airport and the city’s metro were targeted in separate terror attacks that killed 32 people.
