[Niamh.]

The Mirror has learned that the pilot of the Turkish Airlines flight from Dublin to Istanbul was requested to turn back to the airport on Monday afternoon.



Gardai requested a passenger jet to return to Dublin Airport minutes after take-off – when they learned a suspect had left the country on it.

The Mirror has learned that the pilot of the Turkish Airlines flight from Dublin to Istanbul was requested to turn back to the airport on Monday afternoon.

Sources say the foreign national was identified as being on the flight by detectives from the Garda National Immigration Bureau – who then contacted the pilot and told him to come back to the airport.

We have established that flight TK1976 left Dublin 10.50 am on Monday and made it more than 200 kms to the Liverpool area of England before the gardai managed to contact the pilot.

The flyer then went into a holding pattern over Liverpool before flying back to Dublin.

Once the plane landed, the suspect – who is a foreign national – was promptly arrested on suspicion of a serious assault.

We have learned that the serious assault on the person is alleged to have taken place in the Leinster area last week.

The suspect is not from Turkey, but is understood to have been intending to use Istanbul as a transit airport to fly back to his own country – but gardai scuppered that plan.

“The GNIB worked well with the local unit investigating the (alleged assault) and made sure they got their man.

“It was a great bit of police work by all involved,” a source told the Mirror.

We have established that the suspect, who is in his 30s, was held for several hours in a garda station in the Leinster area before being charged with a serious offence connected to the alleged assault.

He appeared in a district court this morning and was remanded in custody to appear in the same court next week.

There was no bail application.

Probably all just for the guy to get a suspended sentence or something

[bitontheslide]

it's the principle that worked and that is a good thing

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

it's the principle that worked and that is a good thing

True enough