LONDON, May 25: Two British nationals of Pakistani origin arrested on a PIA plane after fighter jets were scrambled to escort it to a London airport remained in custody on Saturday for questioning by the police.

The men were detained on suspicion of endangering the aircraft which was carrying 308 people from Lahore to Manchester in northwest England.

Soon after the Boeing 777 landed at the Stansted Airport outside London, armed police officers boarded it and arrested the men, aged 30 and 41.

The incident was not believed to be terrorism-related and a PIA source said it had stemmed from a family row on board.

“There was a family of eight to 10 people on the plane and they were quarrelling among each other,” the source said.

“When PIA staff approached them and asked them to calm down, they told them to go away otherwise they would blow up the plane.

“PIA staff became scared and they raised the alarm to avoid any untoward situation.” Later, the plane departed and landed at Manchester.

According to one passenger, the cabin crew said the two men had repeatedly tried to get into the cockpit.

Umari Nauman told Sky News: “The cabin crew informed us that basically they tried to come into the cockpit a few times and because they had been asked not to do that they got into a bit of an argument with the crew and made a few threats.”

She said all the passengers were ordered to leave their possessions on board before leaving the plane.—Agencies