A man has been arrested at a German airport on suspicion of entering a secure area, sparking a security alert. A terminal was evacuated and flights were suspended earlier today at Cologne-Bonn airport.
Planes on the tarmac were ordered to return to their parking bays and the airport's Terminal 1 was emptied of passengers, an airport spokeswoman told online news website The Local Germany. The measures were taken after a person "illegally entered the secure area," the spokeswoman said.
The main terminal was evacuated, police said, so that everyone's identity could be checked again. According to German local media reports, a 62-year-old Spanish man had entered the secure area using a door next to a supermarket in the airport.
But a statement from the airport later said that while five flights had been held on the tarmac, planes continued to take off and land at Terminal 2. Since the arrest, flights have begun taking off again from Terminal 1.
The airport, which serves Germany's fourth largest city in Cologne, has suffered several security scares in recent months. In March, a plain-clothes police officer delayed at least six planes after failing to submit herself to security checks before reaching airside. In April, European Union inspectors managed to smuggle dangerous weapons, including bomb parts, through security checks at the airport.
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