Man held over 'hijack' drama

Savorani is not thought to have terrorist links

French police have taken a man into custody after he threatened to blow up an Italian passenger aircraft bound for Paris.

The man - named as 29-year-old Stefano Savorani - was overpowered after the Alitalia plane landed in Lyon where it had been diverted.

My God, he's done it again!

Suspect's mother

The police described him as a former police officer with a history of mental illness and hijack attempts.

He is not thought to have any terrorist links, although he referred to Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network during the incident.

None of the passengers or the seven-strong crew was hurt during the incident.

It comes 10 days after an apparent hijack by a man with a knife on an Israeli El Al flight to Turkey.

'Isolated act'

Mr Savorani, an Italian national, has caused a number of similar incidents and has a history of mental illness, raising questions about how he had managed to secure a seat on the plane.

"This was an isolated act from a clearly disturbed person," Rhone region police chief Yves Guillot said.

Mr Savorani has said in the past that he works for a semi-political, semi-religious organisation called Vitalunismo, which promotes political unity in Europe.

Recent hijack scares

22 November: A passenger on an Air France flight from Montreal to Paris is arrested, suspected of planning a hijack attempt

18 November: An Arab Israeli man attempts to break into the cockpit of an El Al flight from Israel to Turkey

15 October: A passenger with a pistol tries unsuccessfully to take over a flight from Sudan to Saudi Arabia

He attempted unsuccessfully to hijack a Moroccan airliner flying from Marseille to Paris in March 1999 using a fake bomb detonator.

On another occasion, he tried to hijack a high-speed train in Italy, breaking into the driver's compartment.

His mother, on learning that her son had hijacked a plane, reacted by saying: "My God, he's done it again!", said Italian newspaper La Repubblica website.

Cockpit threat

The drama began shortly after take-off, when Mr Savorani reportedly got up from his seat and went to the middle of the aircraft.

Police said he was carrying a box which he claimed was a remote control device and said was linked to a bomb.

He went into the cockpit and threatened the pilot, saying he wanted to speak to the press and was a member of al-Qaeda.

At that point, the pilot called the control tower and it was decided to divert the plane to Lyon, the nearest French airport, French television channel LCI said.

Special police units were called to the scene and arrested the man when he surrendered, Gerard Laurent, a spokesman for the National Police service, told BBC News Online.

Fifty-seven passengers and seven crew were on the MD-80 plane, flight AZ364/AF9851, Alitalia said in a statement, although police put passenger numbers at 67.

The plane was bound for Paris Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.

Most of the passengers were allowed to get off the plane at Lyon's Saint-Exupery airport, shortly after landing.

The plane had taxied to the end of a runway.