Bangladesh plane hijack suspect was carrying fake gun

DHAKA: A would-be hijacker shot and killed by Bangladesh commandos was carrying a fake gun and told negotiators he wanted to commandeer a Dubai-bound flight because he had troubles with his wife, officials said yesterday.

The 25-year-old was shot and later died of his wounds after taking a crew member hostage on the Biman Airlines jet, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Chittagong airport on Sunday.

A total of 134 passengers and 14 crew were released unharmed after an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes.

Airport manager Wing Commander Sarwar-e-Jaman said the hijacker was “psychologically imbalanced”.

“The reason he gave for the hijack was that he had troubles with his wife and he wanted to talk to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.”

Flight BG 147 was going from Dhaka to Dubai via Chittagong when the hijacking started.

The man, named only as Mahadi, reportedly wielded a gun in the cabin and tried to storm the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing.

One passenger said he might have fired the weapon twice, but civil aviation authority chairman Air Vice-Marshall Nayeem Hasan said the gun he was carrying was not real.

“According to those who have seen it, it appears that the gun was fake.”

Amid multiple investigations, authorities are focusing on how the suspect smuggled even a fake gun past security at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here.

“An inquiry is underway,” Hasan said.

“It is virtually impossible to breach this security as the system is designed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.”