Man charged after threatening to blow up plane over Australia

● 25- year- old had been discharged from Melbourne psychiatric hospital

0 Police board a Malaysia Airlines plane after a man threatened to blow the plane up and tried to enter its cockpit A man has been charged with e n d a n g e r i n g t h e s a f e t y o f an aircraft and making false threats after he threatened to detonate a bomb and attempte d t o e n t e r t h e c o c k p i t o f a Malaysia Airlines plane flying out of Australia.

Ma n o d h Ma r k s a p p e a r e d in court yesterday and faces a potential ten- year prison sentence on each charge.

Hi s l awyer Te s s Dunsfor d told the magistrate that Marks had a psychiatric illness and would not apply for bail. He did not enter pleas.

Police said the 25- year- old Sri Lankan had been discharged from a Melbourne psychiatric hospital on Wednesday before buying a ticket for the flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Marks was tackled and tied up by passengers after mak- i ng the threat and t he f l i ght returned to Australia. He did not have a bomb.

Po l i c e s a i d Ma r k s h a s n o “terrorist” links or associates.

A b o u t t e n m i n u t e s a f t e r Flight 128 took off from Melbourne, Marks walked from his economy seat to the cockp i t d o o r c l u t c h i n g a n e l e c - tronic device and threatening to blow up the plane, creating panic among passengers.

P a s s e n g e r s s u b d u e d h i m and tied him up with belts.

“At that point, he was essent i a l l y t r u s s e d u p ,” Vi c t o r i a Po l i c e c h i e f c o mmi s s i o n e r Graham Ashton said.

Marks, who is in Australia on a student visa while studying to be a chef, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

He did not enter pleas to the charges.

S c o t t L o d g e s a i d h e w a s one of f our passengers who “pounced” on Marks. “All of a sudden, someone has him in a chokehold and got his arm behind his back and the other guy eventually choked him and he passed out,” Mr Lodge said.

Mr A s h t o n d e s c r i b e d t h e d e v i c e M a r k s c a r r i e d o n

0 Manodh Marks is driven to court in Australia t h e p l a n e a s a n “a mpl i f i e r - t ype instrument”. Passenger Andrew Leoncelli described i t a s a “b o o mb ox ” p o r t a b l e music player.

“He was saying: ‘ I’m going to the blow the F- ing plane up, I ’m going t o blow t he plane up,’” Mr Leoncelli told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“He was agitated, is the best description – 100 per cent, he was agitated.”

The Airbus A330- 300, which was carrying 337 passengers, returned to the airport about 30 minutes after take- off.

P a s s e n g e r s we r e k e p t o n the plane for 90 minutes after l a n d i n g a n d t h e p l a n e wa s searched for potential bombs at a remote part of the airport, Mr Ashton said. Police wearing body armour took Marks off the plane.

T h e a i r l i n e s a i d

t h e

i n c i - dent would b e i nvestigated. Malaysia’s state- owned airline has had two recent high- profile disasters.

M a l a y s i a A i r l i n e s F l i g h t 1 7 wa s s h o t d o w n o ve r t h e Ukraine in 2014 with the loss of all 283 passengers and 15 crew.

Flight 370 had disappeared with 238 people aboard four months earlier. It is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean but no trace of the plane has been found.

Victoria State premier Daniel Andrews offered government support for the passengers stranded by Wednesday’s ordeal.

“I don’t think any of us have a t rue understanding of t he trauma, just how frightening t his exp eri ence would have been,” he said.

M r A n d r e w s c a u t i o n e d against governments responding to the drama by banning mentally ill passengers from flying.

“We want to be ver y careful not to be driving people away f r o m g e t t i n g t h e c a r e t h e y need,” he said.

“We don’t want to be stigmatising any more than mental illness is already stigmatised.”