Blenheim man on terror flight
A Blenheim man says he feels lucky to be alive after discovering his flight out of Australia last month was the one targeted by an alleged terror plot.
Paul Jackson, 46, left his family in New Zealand for five weeks, and was later shocked to find out about his close call.
‘‘I have a wife and three young kids and it occurred to me that when I left them at the airport that could have been the last time I had seen them,’’ he told the Daily Mail Australia.
‘‘It could have gone wrong, so I do, in a sense, feel lucky to be here.’’
An accused Sydney terrorist allegedly planned to smuggle a bomb onto an Etihad flight from Sydney on July 15 by hiding it in his unsuspecting brother’s checkin luggage.
The plot was abandoned at check-in, possibly because the bag was too heavy, police said.
Jackson, the chief executive of luxury expo organisers World Luxury Group, travels often and told Daily Mail Australia he would not be put off.
‘‘I don’t want this to prevent anyone from flying – if it does then the terrorists have won,’’ he said.
All four men arrested as part of the terrorism investigation were related by marriage.
Police allege Khaled Khayat took the luggage containing the bomb with him when he left Sydney Airport, while his brother boarded the Etihad flight. Khaled’s other brother, Mahmoud Khayat, 32, was also charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act.
Abdul Merhi, 50, was released from police custody without charge on Tuesday night.
His brother Khaled Merhi remains in custody but has not been charged.