A 25-year-old man was arrested Friday morning after an alleged threat aboard a Sunwing Airlines flight from Toronto to Panama forced a plane to be turned around mid-flight and escorted back to Canada by two fighter jets.

Sunwing flight 772 departed Toronto at 7:13 a.m. according to the Toronto Pearson International Airport website.

However the flight, which was carrying 189 people, turned around a short time later after a passenger made a threat, a Sunwing spokesperson said Friday.

One passenger who identified himself as Vince told CP24 that he first noticed trouble on the flight after an attendant had an encounter with the man who was later arrested.

“Effectively about 20 minutes into the flight there was a gentleman who said something that clearly the flight attendant did not like,” he told CP24. “As a result she stopped service. We could tell that something was brewing.”

Other passengers told CP24 that the man had been tearing up magazines and yelling.

“The aircraft turned around approximately 45 minutes into the flight over West Virginia when an agitated customer made a direct threat against the aircraft,” Sunwing Travel Group spokesperson Janine Chapman said in an emailed statement. “The Sunwing flight crew followed the appropriate procedures and turned the flight around in cooperation with the FAA and Canadian authorities.”

Two F16 fighter jets broke away from a training exercise and accompanied the plane back to Toronto as a precaution, a NORAD spokesperson told CP24.

Peel police said the plane landed at Pearson at 9:02 a.m. after turning back to the airport. The plane was undamaged and no one was injured, police said.

Chapman said the plane was met by authorities and one passenger was taken into custody.

Dramatic cellphone video captured by a passenger onboard the plane showed armed tactical officers storming the aircraft after landing.

“When the airplane finally landed we waited on the tarmac for about an hour,” Vince said. “At one point we heard both doors open. We were sitting only in row 10. The gentleman was sitting in row seven.

“Suddenly the SWAT team came on both at the front end and the back end of the aircraft and raced to the seventh row. The entire time they were shouting ‘heads down, hands up.’ Clearly this was a pretty serious, dramatic moment. Guns were drawn and there were eight to 10 officers on board the aircraft.”

Peel police later told CP24 that a 25-year-old Canadian man had been taken into custody and was being interviewed by the Criminal Investigations Bureau at their airport division.

Chapman said Sunwing would conduct a full security inspection of the plane.

“This is the first time we’ve had a direct threat against an aircraft during a flight, but we train for that situation on a regular basis,” Sunwing Airlines president Mark Williams told CP24.

“All the crew get annual training which includes safety training. I’m really pleased that when the situation arose the crew sort of kicked in with their training mode and did everything that they were supposed to do. They kept the situation from escalating and got everybody back to Toronto safely.”

Williams said the airline will be considering civil action in connection with the disturbance.

A different plane carrying most of the passengers from the first flight took off to Panama at 3:55 p.m. from Pearson. Sunwing said three passengers form the first flight opted not to continue the journey.

Police said Friday afternoon that Ali Shahi is facing a number of charges, including mischief to property, mischief interfering with lawful enjoyment of property, uttering threats and endangering the safety of an aircraft. He is set to make an appearance in a Brampton courtroom July 26.

Statement released by suspect’s father

In a statement released Friday night, the father of the man charged in connection with the incident said that police and the health system were to blame for the flight disruption earlier in the day.

“I am sorry for what happened on the flight, but Ali in not at fault,” Sadegh Shahi said.

He said that his son has been dealing with mental health issues since he was 16 years old, but has never received the support he needs.

“He has never been happy, but he is never happy. If he says something, he never means it, he can’t help himself.”

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