Air France plane grounded in Venezuela over bomb threat
Venezuelan authorities took the decision to stop passengers from boarding an Air France plane that was due to depart to Paris on Saturday after a possible bomb threat.
Venezuela's interior minister, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, said experts from the Venezuelan intelligence agency Sebin were examining the aircraft, which had been about to make an overnight flight to the French capital from Caracas' Simon Bolivar international airport.
Rodriguez told Venezuelan state TV that Sebin received information from the French intelligence and anti-terrorist authorities that a terrorist group was seeking to place a bomb on an unspecified flight between Caracas and Paris.
The minister, who is also the head of Sebin, told cbc.ca: "The information we have is that a terrorist group intended to place an explosive on a flight between France and Venezuela."
According to the Guardian, passengers had cleared immigration and were preparing to board Air France flight 385 when they were told it was being delayed.
The paper reports that Mr Torres added: "We don't want to speculate on the motives because the information comes directly from French intelligence services."
The flight was rescheduled for Sunday.
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