July 20, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1423

MADRID, July 19: A Colombian jet with 148 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Spain on Friday after a drunken passenger pulled a knife and threatened people on board, the interior ministry said.

The Boeing 767, operated by Avianca and en route from Bogota, was escorted by two fighter jets to the Torrejon military air base near Madrid, an interior ministry spokesamn said.

Although police had earlier described the incident as an attempted hijacking, the spokesman stressed that the individual at no point made it into the cockpit of the plane.

Police arrested the suspect, who was identified as a Spaniard of Cuban origin.—AFP