Man Apprehended at Cologne Airport for Bypassing Security

Police took a man into custody at Germany’s Cologne-Bonn airport on Monday on suspicion he skirted security screening, in an incident that caused authorities to shut down all departures from one of the two terminals for more than two hours.

Police spokeswoman Kathrin Kuerschner said the man was currently being interrogated as to why he tried to enter the security area without a check.

She had no further information on the man but said authorities had ended their security alarm at the airport and were allowing passengers back in to the terminal.

Airport police sent out the security alarm at 11:30 a.m. local time on suspicion that a person had entered the secure area of the airport through an exit. As a precaution, they shut down departures from the airport’s Terminal 1 in the meantime, including five planes that were already on the tarmac, the airport said.

Traffic from the airport’s Terminal 2 was unaffected, the airport said.

In March, Cologne-Bonn’s Terminal 2 was temporarily shut down after a 23-year-old woman skirted the security controls. Police were able to find her and determined that she had simply been in a rush to catch her plane, but that incident meant delays for about 1,000 travelers.