AVIATION/ BOMB THREAT DIVERTS PIA 777

A male passenger has been arrested today, after a PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES Boeing 777 had to divert to Stockholm, Sweden, due to a bomb threat. PIA Flight 782 was on International Service from Toronto, ON, Canada, to Karachi, Pakistan, with 273 passengers and crew onboard. According to media reports, while the aircraft was in the air, Canadian police received a telephone call from a pay phone. The female caller claimed that a male passenger onboard Flight 782 was carrying explosives. The caller gave authorities the seat number of the man. Officials then alerted the crew onboard Flight 782, which at the time, was inflight at 34000 feet, about 20 miles SE of Stockholm's Arlanda Airport. The 777 landed without incident and taxied to a remote stand. Armed police then surrounded the aircraft and about 1.5 hours later, began offloading passengers in single file to nearby buses. The male passenger was arrested and led off the aircraft in handcuffs. According to media reports from Stockholm, no explosives were found in a search of the male passenger or onboard the aircraft and luggage. Officials in Canada said that the passenger had passed thru all security checkpoints in Toronto without incident. An investigation into the incident has been launched and will involve officials from Sweden, Canada and Pakistan.