MAS ‘bomb scare’ passenger charged in Melbourne court

MELBOURNE: The suspect who allegedly caused a bomb scare on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH128 was charged at the Melbourne magistrate’s court with recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft yesterday.

According to a report by Australian daily The Age, Manodh Marks, 25, was also charged with making threats or false statements and threatening to destroy, damage or endanger the safety of an aircraft or kill or injure those on board.

The charges, under the Commonwealth Crime Aviation Act 1991, carries a jail term of 10 years.

However, Marks did not appear in court due to security concerns raised by magistrate Suzanne Cameron.

His counsel Tessa Dunsford told the court that Marks was concerned about his safety in custody due to “his age and appearance”.

The report further stated no bail application was made and Marks will be remanded until a hearing in August.

Dunsford also told the court that Marks had “recently been a patient of Monash Health”, but it was unclear what the medical concern was.

Kuala Lumpur-bound Flight MH128 left Melbourne at 11.11pm (9.11pm local time) on Wednesday but turned back shortly afterwards when the suspect threatened to blow up the plane.

Passengers recounted the “traumatising” incident, that saw kids and families screaming in terror.

Passengers and crew overpowered Marks and tied him up with seat belts until the flight landed.

A passenger, former Australian Football League player Andrew Leoncelli said the group of men hog-tied the offender and restrained him on the floor as the plane turned back to Melbourne.

The 337 passengers and crew on board were made to wait in their seats for more than an hour after the flight landed safely back in Melbourne, according to multiple accounts from passengers.

Police said the incident was not terrorism-related. Malaysian Airlines stressed that the flight had not been hijacked at any point.