Similar incident: On October 21, 2016, Belavia flight B2-840 from Kyiv to Minsk (of all places) was told to immediately return to the departure airport, or fighter jets would be scrambled [1]. They were only 50km from their destination country's airspace. After the plane landed in Kyiv, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies escorted a passenger off the plane.
Not quite the same, of course (no third-party country involved and passenger in question was released shortly thereafter), but forcing commercial airliners to land seems to be somewhat more common than I thought.
The major difference of course is that the flight originated in the country ordering the return. Not to mention that they were not inventing a fake bomb to justify it.
The Ryanair diversion is a straight-up airplane hijacking.
Not quite the same, of course (no third-party country involved and passenger in question was released shortly thereafter), but forcing commercial airliners to land seems to be somewhat more common than I thought.
[1] https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/378383.html