JEDDAH: Security officers have arrested a man for directing the beam of a laser pointer at a Saudia aircraft while it was landing at Prince Muhammad Airport in Madinah on Wednesday, a civil aviation official said.

“The incident took place at 10 p.m. and the arrest took place in a record time,” said Abdul Hameed Abalarry, a spokesman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation.

The plane, which was coming from Dubai, was flying at a height of 9,000 meters.

“The aircraft observation tower at the airport received a message from the pilot of Flight 3658 that his plane was hit by laser beams from the direction of Hanakiya, east of Madinah,” the spokesman said, adding that police located the source of beams within a short time.

Abalarry thanked the security officers for arresting the person for indulging in an act that would have endangered the lives of people on board the plane. He wondered why people still engaged in such dangerous pastime despite warnings and tough punishments.

The Madinah incident took place a month after a Saudi teenager was held for pointing laser beams at planes landing at Ahsa airport. The beams had been flashed from the National Guard Housing Compound in Ahsa, airport officials said.

In April this year, a green laser beam directed from the ground briefly blinded pilots of two passenger planes coming in to land at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh. One of the planes, arriving from Jeddah, had to delay landing. The pilot handed control of the plane to his co-pilot, who safely landed the aircraft. It later transpired that the lasers were flashed from the Thumama area, 50 km north of Riyadh, and a young man was arrested for the act.

The practice of using laser pointers in the Kingdom to distract people first surfaced during a football match in 2006 when ART TV spotted a fan directing one at Al-Ahli’s goalkeeper during a game against Al-Hilal. The practice has now taken a dangerous turn with planes being targeted. Directed at cockpits, presumably with the intent of disorienting or blinding pilots, the intense light distracts pilots on final approach and could cause a disaster.

The pointer is the kind commonly used in office presentations. Some of the higher priced, $100-plus pointers can emit strong beams that can temporarily blind or distract aircraft pilots if pointed at them. Many incidents have occurred in recent years in different countries of people pointing lasers at passing aircraft for fun.

In 2005, David Banach, a 38-year-old New Jersey man, was charged under US anti-terrorism laws for pointing a laser at an aircraft that startled a pilot as he was landing.

Later, the pilot rode with local police in a helicopter so he could show them from where he thought the beam originated. During the search, the suspect Banach pointed the beam at the helicopter. Police immediately arrested him and he became the first person charged and sentenced under the US Patriot Act for pointing lasers at planes.