Australian police arrested a suspected hijacker who allegedly tried to seize control of an Australian passenger jet and take it to the Middle East – with investigations into the motive ongoing
A major counter-terrorism operation has prevented what officials say was an attempt to seize control of an Australian passenger jet.
The Australian Federal Police swooped earlier this year, arresting a suspect now facing court. A strict suppression order shields their identity, but the case has triggered urgent talks between Home Affairs and airports to tighten security across the country. It is alleged the hijacker planned to force the plane towards a hostile nation in the Middle East, with investigators also examining whether extremist ideology or anti-Semitism motivated the attempt, The Australian reports.
Speaking about the plot on Sunrise, Health Minister Mark Butler reassured Australians that there is no threat to the community. He said: “Obviously any report of a potential hijacking sends shivers down the spine of every Australian. Particularly Australians who fly. I want to be cautious about this. This alleged hijacker is in custody. There’s no threat to the Australian community.”
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“But there’s a suppression order on this for good reason. Investigations are still underway by our intelligence and security agencies. So we don’t want to speculate about other aspects of this issue. We want to let our agencies do their work and that will all come out in due course and be prosecuted in the normal way.”
Former pilot David Oliver said the plot would have been extremely hard to pull off. “Firstly there’s a security protocols on the ground which are fairly strict, both for airport workers an non-airport workers who have to access certain facilities,” he said.
“And on the aircraft, there is strict protocols for flight access which both the cabin crew and flight crew are privy too that passengers would not know – it would be difficult to get into the flight deck.”
The plan is said to have involved multiple stops to refuel the plane en route to the Middle East. Asked if a domestic plane could have been the target due to the refuelling, Mr Oliver said: “Not necessarily. It could have been an international aircraft there are aircraft that fly internationally that don’t have the range to make it direct to the Middle East.
“But a refueling stop adds a lot of complications to any potential threat because there’s no country that I have flown into that would let a hijacked plane refuel and keep going. I think the hijacker hadn’t thought his plan through.”