A senior garda said last night every effort will be made to apprehend the "depraved" person whose hoax call caused a major security alert at Shannon airport yesterday.
The caller phoned gardaí at a Dublin station at 3am yesterday morning to say there was liquid explosive on board the Dublin-bound flight from New York's JFK airport.
The caller purported to be from al-Qaeda and spoke with a Dublin accent.
The EI-112 flight was due to stop over at Shannon, and in response to the call a major security operation was put in place at the airport lasting almost eight hours before the Airbus A330-200 was declared safe.
Supt John Kerin of Ennis Garda station said efforts were being made to try to trace the caller.
"It is a despicable act. Not alone does it terrify the people on the aircraft, but it terrifies a lot of people on the ground."
The plane was carrying 239 passengers and 12 crew. A Garda spokesman said: "There was no unusual activity on board the aircraft and nothing suspicious."
