BBC News
March 17 2005

Man held over Russia plane threat

The man tried to force his way into the cockpit

Russian police have detained a man who tried to force his way into
the cockpit of a plane on its approach to Moscow.
The man threatened to blow up the plane, but is reported not to have
had explosives with him. Reports say he will now be seen by a
psychiatrist.

He was prevented from entering the cockpit by the flight crew.

The plane, a Boeing 777, was en route from Tokyo to Moscow carrying
214 passengers, Russian media reported.

The suspect is reported to be an Australian resident born in 1976. He
was en route from Sydney to Yerevan in Armenia, with stopovers in
Tokyo and Moscow.

“Right now we are trying to establish his identity and the motives
for his action,” a spokesman for Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport was
quoted as saying.

Two Russian airplanes were brought down by explosions last August,
killing 89 people.

Russian security services blamed the crashes on Chechen militants.