Australia: A passenger arrested for threatening to blow up Malaysia Airlines plane

livemint.com:

AP citing the police, Arif became disruptive and claimed to have explosives on board. He was charged with making a false statement about a threat to damage an aircraft and failing to comply with the cabin crew’s safety instructions, said the report. If proven guilty, Arif may have to serve upto 10 years in jail and pay a fine of more than 15,000 Australian dollars ($7,300).

According to the report, Arif refused to leave his police cell to appear before a Sydney court through a video link. Arif’s lawyer Mostafa Daoudie told the Sydney court that he had “serious mental issues" and was “not in the right state of mind", said the report. The case has been postponed until late Tuesday to allow Daoudie time to visit the police cell and assess whether his client was “fit and able to give instructions".

Later, the case was listed for Wednesday as Arif didn’t appeared before the court. His bail was refused by the court. The Kuala Lumpur-bound flight with 199 passengers and 12 crew members onboard left Sydney airport on Monday.

A passenger named Velutha Parambath, said Arif had drawn attention to himself before takeoff by praying aloud, said the report. “At that point, we just thought he was praying for everyone. People just generally had a laugh," Parambath was quoted as saying in the report.

the report. According to the report, Parambath said that half an hour into the flight, Arif became louder, stood up and started pushing and shoving other passengers. He implied having explosives in a backpack.