Israeli agents foil plot to bomb plane

Press, 23 April 1980, Page 8

Israeli agents foil plot to bomb plane

NZPA Zurich Israeli security agents foiled a plot to blow up an El Al jetliner yesterday when they found a bomb in the luggage of a German who was booked aboard the! flight to Tel Aviv, the Swiss! police have reported. Demolition experts took the bomb, equipped with a timing device, to a special vault where it exploded before it could be defused. The police said there were no injuries. The incident occurred as Israelis were celebrating Independence Day. marking the creation of "the Jewish State 32 years ago, and Israel had warned its citizens

i.to be alert to possible Arab i terrorist attacks. i Moshe Eilat, a spokesman "for the Israeli State airline, i said in Tel Aviv it was be-! i.lieved terrorists placed the ; I bomb in the German’s lugIgage without his knowledge. A Swiss police spokesman said the 26-year-old German; told investigators he was; given the bag by a third person to take to Tel Aviv. | Plain-clothes Israeli secur-l ity agents conduct regularl checks at Swiss airports in connection with flights of El Al and became suspicious of' the German’s luggage, the. police said. An X-ray of the j bag detected the bomb. T’nej German was seized andt

1 turned over to Swiss police. :He was not identified. i The police said the bomb |was set to blow up when 'the plane was airborne. The jet, Flight 346 carrying 39 passengers, departed on schedule and landed safely at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airjport, according to Mr Eilat. ■He said the passengers were unaware of the airport injcident. : Zurich authorities said the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office has joined in the investigation. ! Airlines flying to and .from Israel have been the [targets of Arab extremists Sand their fellow conspirators on a number of occasions.