A 58 year-old American man from the outskirts of Milwaukee, has been arrested and charged with mischief after authorities responded to a security investigation on board United Airlines flight 547 at Pearson International Airport. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered a mock Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the passenger's luggage. Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) swabbed the mock IED for explosives with a negative result.
Police have now identified the man as Joseph Galaska.
He's expected to have a bail hearing on Thursday evening.
According to a passenger who spoke to CP24, nobody was allowed to leave the plane for several hours.
“We boarded like normal, they told us our flight would be delayed an hour because of weather and different things in Chicago and then shortly later they announced that it was a security issue and then it turned into a serious security issue,” Tory Galick said.
Galick also said the plane has been towed to another area, where it will be quarantined.
Authorities have searched the plane, and found nothing.
Passengers were told by the pilot that they had their security clearance revoked, and the plane would not be taking off on the flight to Chicago.
Statement from @CustomsBorder on today's security investigation at #YYZ. https://t.co/JvPcGeTHIJ
— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) April 6, 2017