A 14-year-old boy has been questioned by police after a hoax threat against a passenger aircraft prompted RAF Typhoon jets to scramble and intercept the flight over England.
The incident unfolded on Friday when a false threat was made against a Qatar Airways flight, triggering an immediate military response. Two RAF Typhoons were launched to escort the aircraft as a precaution, a standard procedure when a credible threat to a commercial plane is reported.
The Qatar Airways flight was intercepted mid-air before eventually landing safely. Passengers on board would have faced significant disruption and no doubt considerable anxiety as the drama played out around them, unaware at the time that the whole thing was apparently the work of a teenager.
Hertfordshire Police confirmed that a 14-year-old boy was subsequently identified and questioned in connection with making the hoax threat. The boy has not been charged at this stage, and enquiries are continuing.
Hoax threats of this kind are taken extremely seriously by authorities. Scrambling RAF jets is not a cheap or straightforward operation, and every false alarm pulls military resources away from genuine emergencies. Beyond the cost and disruption, passengers and crew are put through a deeply unsettling experience for absolutely no reason.
It is not the first time young people have been linked to aircraft hoax threats in the UK. Security and aviation experts have repeatedly warned that even so-called prank calls or messages targeting flights can carry serious criminal consequences, regardless of the age of the person involved.
Police have not released further details about how the boy was identified or the exact nature of the threat that was made.