Fighter jets scrambled over 'hijack' discussion

Military jets were scrambled to the aid of a British Airways plane flying into Heathrow yesterday after two men were heard apparently discussing a hijack.

The Tornado F3 fighters were launched when the captain of flight BA228 from Baltimore alerted air traffic control that passengers had overheard a suspicious conversation.

Armed police ordered the two American men off the plane once it landed safely at Heathrow, but they were not arrested and were released after a brief interview.

The alert began when a passenger overheard the two men in economy class making references to a possible hijacking, and told cabin crew. The captain contacted the British Airways operations centre 20 minutes before it was due to land and they called air traffic control. The Ministry of Defence took over the incident and launched Tornados, which took off but were not called on to escort the plane.

Both men were white. One was in his early fifties and described as dishevelled, the other was in his twenties with long sideburns.A passenger said: "If you picked the two most likely looking terrorists on the plane, you would have picked them."