Photo by demigrafia

A plane that departed from Dulles International Airport heading to China was diverted back mid-flight because an alleged parental kidnapping suspect was aboard the flight.

The Post reports that the United Airlines flight flying direct to Beijing was diverted back to Dulles Airport mid-flight when FBI agents contacted the pilots, requesting them to turn back because of a passenger aboard the plane. When they landed back at Dulles, Wenjing Liu, a mother, was “arrested under probably cause of international parental kidnapping.” She was flying with her son.

Liu was charged with “knowingly and unlawfully attempting to remove her son from the United States with intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights,” according to the Post. Liu, a Chinese citizen, married a man from Leesburg, Va. in 2007, and the couple, who have one son, officially divorced in 2013. As per their settlement, they have joint custody of their child, but “the custody order said that neither party could travel with the child outside the United States without written and notarized consent of the other party.”

Liu reportedly sent an email to her ex-husband that she was taking their son to China to visit her dying grandmother, but Liu’s ex-husband did not consent, saying that the child couldn’t miss the beginning of school. After Liu replied that the tickets were already purchased and they were leaving immediately, Liu’s ex-husband contacted the police.

The plane, which took off around noon, returned to Dulles at about 5 p.m., and took off later that evening after Liu was arrested.

And here’s where things get a bit interesting:

Authorities said that Liu told the father that she was taking the trip because she had been notified about her grandmother’s declining health on Wednesday, but travel documents show that she made flight reservations for one-way airline tickets on Aug. 27.