Keralanext, India
March 19 2005

Australasia ; Australian charged over bomb threat on Russian plane:

[Australasia News] Russian police have charged an Australian with
making a hoax bomb threat, after he threatened to blow up a flight
from Tokyo to Moscow.

The man was charged with knowingly making false claims about a
terrorist act.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

The 29-year-old man, who police sources say is of Armenian
extraction, had told crew on board the Aeroflot flight he would carry
out his threat unless he was flown to the breakaway Russian region of
Chechnya.

He tried to break into the cockpit of the Boeing 777 as it approached
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport but was stopped.

The plane landed safely.

News agencies reported that the unidentified man was drunk at the
time of the incident.

He was on a flight from Sydney to the Armenian capital of Yerevan via
Tokyo and Moscow.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress