A Malaysia Airlines plane was forced to return to Australia after a Sri Lankan man threatened to detonate a bomb. The man is mentally ill and tried to enter the cockpit making threatening comments.
The 25 year old was then tackled and tied up by the crew and passengers. He has been identified as Manodh Marks who had been discharged from a Melbourne psychiatric hospital on Wednesday. He then bought a ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and boarded the late night flight.
Flight MH128 took off from Melbourne after which Marks stood up and walked towards the cockpit. He had an electronic device in his hand and started shouting that he was going to blow up the plane.
The passengers were in a panic but the crew along with the help of the passengers tied the accused up with belts.
The suspected bomb that Marks threatened with was actually a power bank.
Police investigation has shown that Marks has no terrorists connections.
Manodh Marks has been charged with making false threats and endangering the safety of an aircraft. He appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday and is likely to get a 10 year prison sentence for each of the charges.
About 30 minutes after take off the flight carrying 337 passengers returned to the Melbourne airport.
Once the plane landed the passengers were made to stay in the flight for 90 minutes while the police checked the plane for potential bombs. The police wearing body armour entered the flight and took Marks into custody.
Daniel Andrews, Victoria State Premier has offered support to the passengers caught up in Wednesday’s incident. He also said, “We want to be very careful not to be driving people away from getting the care they need. We don’t want to be stigmatizing any more than mental illness is already stigmatized.”
