Russia is blamed for a wave of hoax 'bomb threats' that grounded six flights across Europe, including two from Britain
A LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 737 like the aircraft carrying 181 passengers, including Jewish schoolchildren from a London school, that was diverted from its Heathrow-to-Warsaw route after a hoax bomb threat.A locator map of European flight routes, showing the countries affected by Tuesday's bomb threats, including the Ryanair jet from Manchester that landed under guard in Murcia, Spain.
Security experts say Vladimir Putin is "highly likely" responsible for the coordinated wave of hoax threats, which security and intelligence professor Anthony Glees called a new front in Russia's "kinetic shadow war" against Britain and the West. No explosive devices were found on any of the six grounded aircraft after bomb disposal teams swept each plane.
The UK Government confirmed two of the threats — on flights from Heathrow and Manchester — were a "malicious hoax."
One flight carried London Jewish schoolchildren aged 16 and 17 on a school trip to Poland; they were evacuated without their belongings at Warsaw-Modlin Airport.
Glees warned the hoaxes "spread mayhem and even panic" and are designed to test Western resilience, echoing IRA tactics from the 1990s.
