Passenger arrested after two RAF Typhoons escorted diverted airliner to Stansted was wanted for £175 car insurance fraud
Khalid Baqa was on a the plane from Lahore to London when their plane was diverted from Heathrow to Stansted
A PASSENGER arrested after two RAF Typhoons escorted a diverted airliner to Stansted was wanted for a £175 car insurance fraud.
Khalid Baqa, 52, had saved the money on his renewal by failing to disclose three penalty points for running a red light.
He was on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore that was refused permission to land at Heathrow.
The ex-council revenue officer was yesterday convicted of fraud.
A judge at Highbury Corner court in North London gave him a conditional discharge.
Photos posted on Twitter at the time showed emergency vehicles waiting for the plane to land at the Essex airport.
An airline spokesman at the time said UK authorities had "received some vague security threat through an anonymous phone call".
Essex Police said the incident was "not believed to be a hijack situation or terror matter".
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Prosecutor Fabio Vitiello told the court: "The premium would have been £175 higher, therefore the prosecution case is that by not disclosing the conviction he made a benefit for himself by not paying the higher price."
The mid-air drama in February followed a two-year jail term he was given in 2013 after extremist material was found at his home in Barking, East London.