Afghan 'hijack was false alarm'

An Ariana plane was hijacked in 2000

Reports of an attempt to hijack an Afghan airliner carrying Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia were a false alarm, officials say.

The aircraft from Afghan's state carrier, Ariana, was forced to land in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday afternoon.

It looks like it was a false alarm. It was not a hijack

Omar Samad
Afghan Foreign Ministry

Ariana's president said suspected hijackers had been arrested when the plane touched down in Dubai, and that all passengers were unharmed.

But the Afghan Government and a senior UAE official later denied there was any evidence of a hijacking attempt.

Afghanistan's aviation minister, Mirwais Sadiq Mirwais Sadiq, said a jet from US-led coalition forces had followed the plane and forced it to land.

"Coalition forces had doubts about the plane... as if they had a report that a hijacker was inside," he told Reuters news agency.

After checks were complete, the plane was cleared to continue its journey, the minister said.

He had told the news agency earlier that a hijack attempt had been foiled.

No arrests

An official UAE source told the BBC that officials had found no sign of any hijack attempt.

He said the UAE authorities had received information that there was an Afghan plane being hijacked.

One Afghan plane was accordingly asked to land in a military airbase in the UAE.

Despite being thoroughly searched there was no evidence to suggest a hijack had taken place, the official said.

The source told the BBC another plane landed normally at Sharjah airport. It was also searched and nothing was found.

A third plane was asked to land at a military airbase. Searches there, too, showed no evidence of a hijack attempt.

The UAE source also said no arrests had been made.

The planes were asked to land as a precautionary measure because of the information received.