Heathrow Airport was brought to a standstill when a suspicious package was found, sparking a security alert. Police and explosive search dogs investigated the incident which has now come to an end. Heathrow Airport is now open and working “as per normal,” a Heathrow spokeswoman told Express.co.uk. “Earlier today, we worked with the Met police to respond to an incident in Terminal 2 which temporarily affected security processing lanes,” she said.
“Our security lanes are now open and passengers are being processed through as normal.
“The safety of our passengers and colleagues is our absolute priority and we apologise to those passengers whose journeys were impacted as we responded to this incident.”
The Met Police tweeted earlier: “Police in Heathrow are assessing an item of luggage at Terminal 2. No reported injuries. Enquiries ongoing. Thanks for your cooperation.”
They then posted the update: “Assessment of luggage item by specialist officers now complete. Nothing untoward. Terminal 2 zone that was being looked at by police will be reopened shortly. Thank you for your patience.”
Images and footage on social media show crowds waiting outside the terminal while the investigation was being carried out.
Passengers at Heathrow said people were “getting restless” as they were forced to wait.
One Twitter user said there were “sniffer dogs everywhere!” while another added: “No one being allowed to enter.”
The incident comes after Gatwick Airport was forced to close after drones were spotted before Christmas last year.
Both Gatwick and Heathrow have allegedly now ordered military-grade anti-drone defences following three days of chaos at Gatwick over Christmas.
The new equipment, which is worth “several million pounds” will allow airports to track unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), The Times reported.
Last month, the British Army was drafted in at Gatwick and reportedly deployed an Israeli-produced ‘Drone Dome’ to protect the airport in the run-up to Christmas.
The army bought six Drone Domes for £15.8 million in 2018, using the same technology employed in Syria to destroy ISIS UAVs.
Using the specialist equipment, the army was able to ensure the airport was safe for planes to take off and land.
The anti-drone system can detect and jam communications between a drone and its operator.
More than 140,000 people were hit after around 1,000 flights were cancelled or diverted over three days of chaos from December 19 to 21 at the airport.
At one point, Sussex Police appeared to indicated there had been no drone sightings. But the force later backtracked and said it was investigating 115 “relevant sightings.”
