A MAN held in custody after a security scare shut down a North-East airport was last night released by police without charge.

The 35-year-old man, a Libyan national, was trying to travel from Durham Tees Valley airport.

He was arrested after an apparently suspicious package was found in his luggage.

About 200 people were evacuated to an airport hangar and an Army bomb dis- posal squad from Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was called in to carry out a controlled explosion on the item.

The man, an electrical engineer for a Libyan oil company who is studying in the North-East and living in Redcar, east Cleveland, had been questioned by Special Branch officers over the weekend at an unnamed police station in County Durham.

He was detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 and was understood to have been suspected initially of having some kind of electrical or timing device in his luggage.

He had checked in shortly before 6.30am on Saturday to catch a British Midlands flight to Heathrow Airport

From there he was scheduled to catch a connecting flight to Tripoli, Libya, later in the day.

Concerns were raised by airport staff following a routine check of the man's baggage using x-ray equipment.

Flights in and out were stopped and the airport was closed for more than two hours.

It returned to normal by mid-morning.

An initial investigation of the man's luggage afterwards found no traces of explosive material, police said.

Airport commercial manager Richard Whitehouse said no services had been cancelled, but six flights were delayed.

He said: "What happened was frustrating for the passengers, but I think they appreciated that there was an incident.

"The safety and security of passengers, air crew and staff is of paramount importance to us."