§ 2. Sir G. Foxasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether the use of the R.A.F. for hunting two criminals on behalf of the civil police was made by the authority of the provost marshal of the R.A.F.; and whether the airmen were given power of arrest.
§ Mr. de FreitasI understand that the hon. and gallant Member is referring to the occasion when an escaped prisoner was re-arrested by the civil police after a Royal Air Force aircraft- had been successfully used to find him. The use of aircraft is not a matter for the Provost Marshal to authorise, nor was there any question of making or authorising an arrest from the air.