Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
March 18 2005

‘Australian’ charged over bomb threat on Russian jet
March 19, 2005

Russian police have charged an Australian with making a hoax bomb
threat after he threatened to blow up a plane on a flight from Tokyo
to Moscow, reports said.

The man was charged with knowingly making false claims about a
terrorist act, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in
jail, Interfax news agency said, citing police.

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

He tried to break into the cockpit of the Boeing 777 as it approached
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport but was stopped, the agency said,
without giving any more details.

The plane landed normally.

In Canberra, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade said the man would be provided consular help.

“The Australian embassy in Moscow has verified the man’s detention
and will provide normal consular assistance,” she said.

“He’s been detained by Russian authorities, he’s been questioned as
to his identity and his motives.”

An official at the airport told foreign news agencies: “The
Australian-based passenger, born in 1976 and travelling from Sydney
to Yerevan, Armenia via Tokyo and Moscow, tried to enter the pilot’s
cabin but was prevented from doing so by the crew.”

Reports by ITAR-Tass suggested the man did not have explosives and
that he would undergo psychiatric tests.

The Australian embassy in Moscow will help the detained man obtain a
lawyer, the spokeswoman said.

Moscow airport police spokeswoman Tatyana Bondareva said If
convicted, the man could face up to three years in prison.

The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified police official as
saying the Australian was drunk.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress