A MUSIC teacher from Southampton was arrested this morning after boarding a military plane to search for US weapons being transported to Israel.

Chris Bluemel, 35, who teaches A level music, was one of three anti-war protestors who managed to get on to the plane at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, in the early hours.

Mr Bluemel, who is a representative of the national Campaign Against Climate Change and the city's branch of the Stop the War Coalition, was being held in police custody following the attempt.

Police confirmed a further four people - two men and two women - were also arrested at the airport at around 3.30am.

Anti-nuclear campaign group Trident Ploughshares said its activists had boarded a US plane while carrying out an investigation into the British government's involvement in the transport of arms to Israel.

The incidents follow protests last weekend when two flights carrying hazardous material were diverted to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the body responsible for policing the transit of the flights through civilian airports, said it had given permission for the two US flights to stop at Prestwick last weekend but no others.

A spokesman for Prestwick Airport said: "Two separate incidents occurred early this morning which resulted in a total of seven people being arrested."