Heathrow Briefly Suspends some Flights due to ‘Security Issue’

London- London’s Heathrow airport briefly suspended departures from one of its terminals on Friday for security reasons, an airport spokeswoman said.

She said the suspension at terminal 3 had been caused by “a security issue” but did not elaborate.

“Departures were suspended for a short time from terminal 3 due to a security issue. We are very sorry to any passengers whose journeys are affected,” she added.

London’s Metropolitan Police said there was a report of a luggage X-ray having found a suspicious item.

“We are working with Heathrow terminal 3 after a report of a suspicious item detected by an X-ray of luggage,” police said in a statement.

Tim Chambers, a passenger on a British Airways flight to Bilbao said his plane was held on the tarmac for two hours due to a suspected “security lapse”, with each plane due to depart being searched by armed police.

He said the captain had told passengers a man had grabbed his bag and run after it was pulled aside to be checked.

The security alert came the day after a man arriving at Heathrow on a flight from Turkey was arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related crime.

The man was detained by the Met’s counter-terror squad as he stepped off a plane from Istanbul on Thursday evening.

Police said the 30-year-old was arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks and training terrorists.