An airline captain removed two passengers from a Norwegian Air flight on Thursday after flight crew suspected that a tattoo on one of the passengers’ arms was an homage to the Islamic State jihadist group.
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According to the English-language Swedish news site The Local, the Thursday flight from Stockholm to Heraklion in Greece was delayed over an apparently Arabic-language tattoo sported by a passenger, who was not identified.
Media reports from the incident contain no information as to any apparent danger posed by the man, or by his female companion, when they were removed from the flight.
The airport’s border police station chief, identified as Darko Ali, acknowledged that the flight crew “reacted to another passenger for some reason, and this caused concern. The captain decided that the person would not be allowed to remain on board and wanted that person to leave,” The Local reported, citing the tabloid Expressen.
A Stockholm Police representative explained that the removal was “not a police matter. The pilot has full authority to remove whoever he wants from the plane,” he said.