Police stopped a taxiing plane from taking off at Heathrow Airport to arrest a man on suspicion of child abduction.
Number plate cameras tracked the car to London after Nottinghamshire Police received a report of a man taking a four-year-old girl without her mother’s permission on Thursday.
The man was booked on a flight to Romanian capital Bucharest at 6pm on Friday.
“When the report came in it was a race against the clock to find them,” said Detective Sergeant Ruth Walker.
“The plane was taxiing ready for take-off, but we were able to get there just in time before it took flight. The plane then returned to the terminal and the man was arrested.”
A 32-year-old man, who is known to the girl, was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and released on bail pending further inquiries.
The girl was returned to her mother.
