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PANAMA - Panamanian police arrested seven people, mostly Syrians, reported to have been acting suspiciously on a Copa Airlines plane from Cuba, but civil aviation authorities said the incident was not a hijacking.
Passengers on Copa flight 231 from Havana to Panama City feared the suspects were going to storm the cockpit armed with cutlery and told the crew, who alerted the Panamanian airport shortly before landing.
"This happened after flight personnel checked the metal utensils in the first class section and noticed that some were missing," the civil aviation authority said. "We want to deny that this was an attempted hijack."
The six Syrians and one Cuban were detained at Panama City's Tocumen airport.
"None of these people committed a violent act against the crew or passengers but they behaved suspiciously and tried to approach the cabin," Rolando Mirones, head of the national police, told a radio station.
Police surrounded the plane on the tarmac at the capital's Tocumen airport and one man was led out of the terminal building in handcuffs.
The Syrians were on their way to Haiti via Panama. Copa is headquartered in Panama.
- REUTERS
