On January 16, 2021, Frankfurt airport (FRA) was sealed after an aggressive man threatened to kill people.
A 38-year-old Slovenian resident got aggressive after being approached for not wearing a mask. He threatened to kill everyone shouting “Allahu Akbar” and tried to flee the scene, leaving his luggage behind. The airport police surrounded and managed to detain the suspect.
According to the statement by German Federal Police Directorate, the incident occurred at the Terminal 1 of the Frankfurt Airport (FRA) at 5:16pm, on January 16, 2021.
“A federal police patrol approached a Slovenian man who was not wearing mouth and nose protection,” the statement read. “He immediately showed aggressive behavior towards the officers and said, ‘I will kill you all, Allahu Akbar’.”
After the federal police control center reported that an armed man had allegedly been sighted in Terminal 1, all passengers were evacuated from Terminal 1 and airport trains were suspended for more than 3 hours. At around 8pm the federal police gave clearance to resume traffic.
“The deployment resulted in great disruption to air and rail traffic at Frankfurt Airport,” revealed the Federal Police.
“Nevertheless, no inbound flights had to be diverted and there were no flight cancellations caused by the incident. A special permit for take-offs up to midnight was granted,” FRA spokesperson told AeroTime News.
After the incident, the suspect was immediately detained and interrogated. “So far there is no information about the motivation. There are parallel investigations into the evidence of the armed persons,” said police officials.
“The suspected person from Slovenia has been taken to a mental clinic at Frankfurt. This was required because of an obviously mental disease. The investigation on the comprehensive case is still ongoing,” commented Federal Police of Frankfurt Airport to AeroTime News.
In the peak phase of the operation, over 100 federal and state police officers as well as supporting customs officers were on duty at the airport.