Gatwick evacuated after ‘gunman’ held
Man who brandished weapon at airport staff is wrestled to ground ...and 100 SAS troops drafted into London to foil attacks
A SUSPECTED gunman caused a terror alert at Gatwick Airport yesterday, hours after the atrocities in Paris.
The incident, in which the man was wrestled to the ground by armed officers, came as Britain stepped up security measures that included deploying of 100 Special Air Service (SAS) troops to London to prevent a Paris-style attack.
The man held, a 41-year-old from France, approached an easyJet bag drop-off area in the airport’s North Terminal at 9.30am.
According to witnesses, he got into an argument with airline staff and pulled what appeared to be a handgun. He then sprinted across the terminal before throwing the ‘weapon’ in a bin. Armed police then rushed to the scene and a stand-off ensued. With their automatic rifles trained on the suspect, police officers screamed at him: ‘Get down, get down’.
They restrained him and he was taken into custody on suspicion of firearm offences.
According to West Sussex Police the suspect is from Vendôme, a small town in central France. It is unclear whether he has any links to Islamic State or if the incident is connected to the attacks in Paris. As he was taken into custody, thousands of anxious passengers were evacuated from the North Terminal. All flights to and from this terminal were also suspended while Army experts investigated the discarded item and carried out a controlled explosion.
Terrified passenger James George told The Mail on Sunday: ‘He tried to use the bag-drop facility but he was challenged by airline staff because he had not paid in advance.
‘They had a row and he gestured that he couldn’t understand what they were telling him because he was French.
‘When the easyJet people went off to gget a translator he started kicking right off and turned a gun on somebody.’
Yesterday police did not confirm whether the man was carrying a real gun and stopped short of linking the incident to the Paris attacks. Detective Superintendent Nick May said: ‘At this time it is too early to sayy what his intentions, if any, y were. However, given the events in Paris on Friday evening, there is heightened awareness around any such incident and it is best that we treat the matter in all seriousness.
‘The man is being interviewed as we try to determine the circumstances of the incident.’
The North Terminal reopened p at 3.45pm and flights in and out resumed. The Gatwick incident unfolded as David Cameron chaired a meeting at Downing Street of the UK Government’s emergency committee, Cobra. The Prime Minister later announced that the UK’s terror threat level would remain unchanged. The level is currently y at ‘severe’, which means that experts consider an attack on Britain highly likely. The only level above ‘severe’ is ‘critical’, which means that an attack is expected imminently.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year how senior police officers had wanted the terror level to be increased to ‘critical’ following January’s Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris by Islamic State. This newspaper has also revealed top-secret plans to put 5,000 heavily armed troops on the streets if there were multiple terror strikes in Britain.
Yesterday’s drama at the airport came shortly after 100 Special Forces troops arrived in London. The SAS soldiers were scrambled to the capital from their base in Hereford amid fears of a Paris-style attack. The crack troops come from the regiment’s dedicated anti-terrorist squadron.
An SAS source said: ‘The officers have got detailed architectural plans of government buildings, tourist attractions and the capital’s transport infrastructure, which will be extremely useful in any hostage situation. The soldiers will be based at secret locations and will swoop if any intelligence suggests that Islamic State are about to strike.
‘This is the biggest deployment of SAS troops to London since the 2012 Olympics.’
Security sources also warned last night how the proliferation of illegal weapons in France means the kind of guns used in the Paris attacks could cross the Channel.
In a single operation in August, UK Border officials seized 22 automatic rifles, nine machine-pistols, 58 magazines, two silencers and 1,000 live rounds of ammunition. The cache was found after a yacht called Albernina, which was being monitored by security services as it sailed from France, was met by a van when it arrived in Britain. Armed officers later swooped on the van and discovered the weapons stashed in holdalls and a suitcase.