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'Australian' charged over bomb threat on Russian jet

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  • 'Australian' charged over bomb threat on Russian jet

    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
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