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Manama: A Gulf Air plane flying from Bahrain to Paris was forced to make a u-turn to offload unruly passengers, the company has said.

"Three passengers of a group of five on Gulf Air flight GF 019 from Bahrain to Paris on December 28 behaved in an unruly and disruptive manner onboard after the flight took off from Bahrain airport," Katherine Genowefa Kaczynska, senior manager of corporate communication, told Gulf News.

"Passengers sitting behind and in front requested them to be quiet as some of them were travelling with children. However, three passenger became violent and threatened the fellow passengers," she said.

Efforts by Gulf Air cabin crew to pacify them failed and, and the captain, considering the safety and security of the passengers, decided to return the plane to Bahrain to offload the disruptive passengers, she said.

The plane was about 25 nautical miles east of Kuwait City when the captain made the decision.

"On arrival at Bahrain airport, all five passengers were offloaded, along with their baggage and handed over to the airport security. The passengers - all holding French nationality - are now in police custody pending investigations," Katherine said.

The flight left for Paris after a three-hour delay.