Gatwick terminal re-opens after terror alert

breaking.examiner.ie 13/02/2003 - 10:11:02 pm Gatwick's North Terminal has re-opened after a terror alert. On hearing the announcement hundreds of people rushed to the shuttle train platform in the hope of being the first to get news of their flights. A man is still being questioned by anti-terrorist police after a live grenade was found in a passenger's luggage at Gatwick airport. The 37-year-old Venezuelan arrived on British Airways flight 2048 from Bogota in Columbia. He was held by Sussex Police and was being taken to a central London police station to be quizzed by detectives from Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch. Police said the flight stopped at Caracas in Venezuela and BA said it also stopped in Barbados. It was not clear where the man boarded the flight. The grenade was found as he went through Customs so explosives officers were called in and it was found to be live. It was not detonated. Part of the airport's North Terminal was evacuated during the alert and outbound flights were suspended. The grenade was believed to have been in the man's hold luggage, not his hand luggage, although that has yet to be officially confirmed. A BA spokesman said an investigation is underway as to how his baggage had got on to the plane undetected.