NEW YORK, May 26 Former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf was offloaded on Tuesday night from a London-bound Virgin Atlantic flight at Newark (New Jersey) due to a security threat, a newspaper report here said

The reason given was that a passenger of Middle Eastern descent had bought a one-way ticket with cash, The Trentonian newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.

Officials removed and inspected all luggages from the aeroplane and advised Musharraf not to travel.

A representative from Virgin Atlantic said the flight was scheduled to depart at 910 pm on Tuesday but took off at 1253 am.—Correspondent