‘Drunk’ passenger threatens to hijack flight, arrested

A man was arrested from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport for allegedly threatening to hijack a Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight, police said.

A man was arrested from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport for allegedly threatening to hijack a Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight, police said.

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The man and his companions allegedly entered into an argument with the crew in an "inebriated condition". The police said the man, hailing from Haryana, falsely claimed he had a "bomb in his bag".

The man, identified as Navin Kumar, was boarding the flight (9W 2059) along with his five friends on Tuesday night. They began an altercation with the crew over the rescheduling of the flight from 10.30 pm to 12.30 am, the police said.

Amid heated exchanges inside the aircraft, he allegedly threatened the crew that he would hijack the plane and that he had a "bomb in his bag", the police said. The man and his companions were immediately caught by the crew and the airport security was alerted.

All the 148 passengers on board were then deplaned and a thorough search of the aircraft was conducted. The six passengers, who were identified, were offloaded and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, who are responsible for the airport’s security. The CISF took all six into custody and later handed them over to the police.

Airport officials alleged that they were boarding the flight in an "inebriated condition". The flight finally took off for Mumbai at 12.45 am.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Operations) Satendra Garg said: “Navin Kumar has been arrested under section 341 for unlawfully detaining and consequently delaying the flight. He has been remanded in judicial custody.”

The other five passengers were, however, let off after a thorough enquiry and verification as their names were not in the complaint.

All the six men were examined to verify the allegation that they had consumed alcohol.