The incident occurred when the aircraft was on the tarmac of the air terminal, about to take off, with 158 people on board.

A passenger who overheard the arrested man say that he was going to blow up the aircraft alerted the airline, which activated the contingency plan and the security protocol. All passengers were rushed off the aircraft and taken to the security area.

The plane had to be moved to an area of the airport where officers of the Special Police Operations Group searched the aircraft and all the luggage without finding anything suspicious.

According to last minute information, the Copa flight finally took off.

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