A woman has been arrested after she bypassed airport security at Rotterdam The Hague airport and boarded a flight to Spain.

AD.nl reported that the woman pressed the emergency button at the security gate, slipped through in the ensuing commotion and stowed away on a Transavia plane bound for Malaga.

She was arrested on Monday evening after the plane made an unscheduled landing in Madrid. AD said the woman was a Russian national.

Police initially thought she was on board another Transavia flight to Faro, Portugal, prompting the pilot to make an unscheduled landing in Bordeaux. The plane later flew on to its destination.

Dutch border police confirmed the incident happened at around 4.30 pm on Monday and said they were investigating how the woman had managed to evade security at baggage check-in and the departure gate.

Passengers told AD she had demanded to speak to the ambassador during the flight and talked about human trafficking.

A spokesman for the military police (Marechaussee) confirmed that ‘a passenger reached the platform unseen and boarded an aircraft.

‘As soon as the military police became aware, we immediately informed the captain,’ the spokesman told AD.

‘The captain then decided to land in Madrid, where the person was removed from the plan by Spanish police.’

Transavia is also investigating the breach of security, but would not say if the woman had a ticket for the flight to Malaga.