A female passenger managed to smuggle a dog onto a London-bound British Airways flight before being discovered.
The tiny Yorkshire Terrier got past security at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport in Israel, carried in the lady’s handbag.
The aircraft had taxied as far as the runway yesterday when a passenger alerted cabin and crew that there was a dog on board after hearing a squeaking noise from under a seat.
The plane returned to the terminal and after questioning, the woman, believed to be American, her dog and her luggage were removed from the plane.
One passenger said: "People are concerned about the security implications. How on earth did she manage to get a dog through security at Ben Gurion?"
A spokesman for BA said: "We did not allow a female customer to travel on board our service from Tel Aviv to Heathrow today after it was discovered that she was carrying a small dog in her handbag.
"We apologise to our customers who experienced a delay to the departure of their flight as a result of this incident."
