| I came across this after midnight, or I'd have added it as an update yesterday. |
[DailyMail] Passengers on board a Melbourne flight 'hijacked' by a man claiming to have a bomb have described the heroic moment two young Australian men tackled the 'lunatic' Sri Lankan national to the floor and hogtied him until special operations police arrived.Former AFL star Andrew Leoncelli was on board the Malaysia Airline flight MH128, travelling to Kualu Lumpur, when the man threatened to 'blow the f***ing plane up'.
Mr Leoncelli, who was sitting four rows from the front of the plane in business class, said he confronted the man who was holding a 'huge, metallic object with two antennas'.
'I could hear this idiot saying he wanted to go in and see the pilot,' the ex-Melbourne FC Demons player told 3AW radio.
'Staff were saying "Sit back down, sit back down" and he said: "No, I’m not going to sit down, I’m going to blow the plane up".'
'I said, "Mate, what are you effing doing?" And he said, "I'm going to blow the f***ing plane up". And I was going, "Oh my god, he's f***ing insane
The Malaysian Government claimed the suspicious object the man was holding was likely a powerbank used to charge mobile phones.
'It is believed that the suspect is a Sri Lankan national, and that he was drunk,' Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Seri Aziz Ab Kaprawi told The Star.
Victoria Police confirmed that the man, a 25-year-old from Dandenong, had a history of mental health [issues] and did not have an bomb.
He was jugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
after questioning from Australian Federal and Victorian Police.