Swedish police evacuated 273 people from a Pakistan International Airlines jet diverted to Stockholm due to a bomb alert Saturday and detained a passenger on suspicion of preparing aircraft sabotage, officials said. However, no explosives were found on the man or on the Boeing 777, and all passengers – except the suspect – were allowed back on the plane nine hours later. It took off for Manchester, England, from where the passengers would continue their journey to Karachi, said Jan Lindqvist, a spokesman for airport operator Swedavia. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it was investigating whether the incident was a “terrorism hoax.” The plane was traveling from Toronto to Karachi when the pilot asked to land after Canadian authorities received a tip that a passenger was carrying explosives. A SWAT team detained the suspect as he was evacuated from the aircraft along with the other passengers. An AP reporter at the airport saw the passengers boarding yellow airport buses parked near the aircraft. Police described the suspect as a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, aged about 30, but said they had not confirmed his identity. A spokesman for the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines said the suspect was a 25-year-old Canadian national. The tip was “called in by a woman in Canada,” police operation leader Stefan Radman said, adding that Swedish police took the threat seriously. In Pakistan, a spokesman for state-run PIA confirmed the incident involved flight PK782 to Karachi.
