A man who allegedly threatened to blow up a Malaysian Airlines flight while trying to storm the cockpit is in custody in Australia.
Last night, the flight bound for Kuala Lumpur was forced to return to Melbourne. The 25-year-old Sri Lankan man had reportedly just been released from a psychiatric hospital before getting on the plane and was carrying a large black cylinder. He was tackled by crew members and passengers as he tried to get into the cockpit. Heavily armed security personnel boarded the plane and removed the suspect after it landed.
Andrew Leoncelli, a former AFL player who was in business class, said he saw a man carrying a large black cylinder runs towards the cockpit. "I ran to the front and confronted him around the corner and he was there and he was a tall guy, taller than me, with a beanie on, wearing dark clothing, dark skin, carrying a giant thing, a very strange-looking thing with antennas coming off it, saying 'I'm going to blow the plane up.'"
The crew grabbed the cylinder and two other passengers subdued the man. The cylinder was removed for examination.
Source: Guardian