ARMED police have swooped on a plane full of holidaymakers to arrest two men on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

The Viking aircraft had started to taxi out towards the runway and was just seconds from taking off bound for the Spanish sunshine island of Tenerife, it has emerged.

But the pilot was ordered to turn back, before officers arrested two men from the Hetton area, near Durham.

The incident happened at Manchester Airport on Friday morning.

The men, aged 34 and 43, were taken back to the North-East for questioning in a police station in the Durham Police area.

The arrests were made by officers from Greater Manchester Police, but they were acting on behalf of Durham Constabulary.