PARIS, Sept 27: French police suspect that an explosive charge found on board a Moroccan airliner that arrived on Wednesday at Metz-Nancy-Lorraine airport, in eastern France, was to have been detonated upon the aircraft’s return flight the next day to Morocco.

They believe that a radical group opposed to the monarchy had plotted the disaster to influence the outcome of legislative elections in Morocco. The elections were held on Thursday.

The country’s police have been ordered to “go all out” in determining who left 98 grams of penthrite on a Royal Air Maroc (RAM) flight between Marakkesh and Metz,France.

The explosive was found between two rows of seats on the RAM flight during a routine check of the aircraft by customs officials using specially trained dogs.