Security alert at Heathrow Airport

Bangla Sanglap Desk:

Met Police were called to the airport after a suspected breached security on the perimeter of the airport and managed to get into the British Airways engineering base at Hatton Cross.

The 38-year-old man was spotted getting into the cabin of the empty plane and fled into the flight deck.

He then shut the high-security cockpit doors and locked himself into the captain and co-pilots’ seating area.

The incident unfolded shortly after 11.30am yesterday.

A source said it was impossible for security staff to get into the cockpit as the doors are designed to protect the pilot and co-pilot from a hijack situation.

They said: “It was a very difficult and complex situation and in the end the fire brigade had to be called to the plane and carried out a long and very protracted operation to get into the cockpit from outside.

“Eventually they managed to gain access to the cockpit and police were able to storm in and arrested the intruder,” said the source who asked not to be named.

“It is a terrifying situation when you think about it. Here is a man who not only has managed to go air-side at one of the world’s busiest airports but he has successfully got to a Boeing 474 jet liner and found it open and was able to climb aboard.

“Then he has got onto the flight deck and barricaded himself in using the plane’s own anti-terrorist equipment.”

A spokesman for Metropolitan Police said a 38-year-old man was arrested, believed to be a Portuguese national.

They said: “Louis Pedro Verdasca dos Santos Costa, 38, of Stonehill Road, Hounslow, west London was charged on Saturday, March 5, with two counts of unlawfully being airside, and of unlawfully being on an aircraft.

“He has been remanded into custody at a west London police station and will appear at court at the earliest opportunity next week.”

British Airways said the airline had no comment to make as a man has been charged and will appear in court.