Explosive found on Air France flight was 'dummy bomb' designed to create fear

An Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris was forced to make an emergency landing in Kenya after a passenger found a suspected bomb in the toilet.

Kenyan authorities have now retracted an earlier statement which said that it was an explosive device, and now claim that it was a 'dummy bomb'.

The Boeing 777 was carrying 459 passengers and 14 crew members when pilots requested an emergency landing at a Mombasa airport at 12.30am.

A Kenyan police official said during the flight a passenger noticed something in a lavatory that looked like 'a stopwatch mounted on a box.'
The passenger reported the device to the cabin crew, who informed the pilots, leading to an emergency landing at the airport in the Kenyan city of Mombasa.
An emergency landing was prepared and it landed safely and all passengers evacuated.

‘Bomb experts from the Navy and the criminal investigations department were called in, and took the device.’ Kenyan police spokesman Charles Owino said:

‘The plane requested an emergency landing after a device suspected to be a bomb was discovered in the lavatory...Mr Owino said it was a ‘dummy bomb’ designed to create fear on the plane.

Interior minister Joseph Nkaissery told reporters at Mombasa's Moi International Airport that Kenyan authorities were working with their French and Mauritian counterparts to determine the nature of the device.He confirmed that a number of passengers who were aboard the flight were being questioned about the suspect device, but did not say if they were under arrest.

'We are in touch with Mauritius to know how security screening of passengers was done. A few passengers are being interrogated,' he said.

Culled-Mailonline