Plane passengers in Australia disarm teenager armed with shotgun
The suspect has been charged with numerous offences including taking illegal control of an aircraft.
ADVERTISEMENT
Passengers and crew have been praised for their bravery after they restrained and disarmed a 17-year-old attempting to board a plane in Australia with a loaded shotgun on Thursday.
The incident took place at Avalon Airport, near Melbourne, in the state of Victoria.
Victoria Police Superintendent Michael Reid said the boy entered the airport through a hole in the security fence, before approaching a Jetstar Airways plane that was preparing for take-off.
'This would have been a very terrifying incident for the passengers of that plane and Victoria Police really commend the bravery of those passengers who were able to overpower that male,' Reid said.
Reid singled out two passengers and a pilot for their roles in disarming the teenager before police arrived.
Barry Clark, a former professional boxer, was one of the passengers involved in restraining the suspect.
Clark said he noticed the boy had grown agitated at the plane's entrance, where he was being questioned by a flight attendant.
In an interview with Network 10 television, Clark said he then spotted the gun.
After approaching the boy from behind, Clark said he 'put him in a bit of a lock', 'threw him to the floor' and then held him in position by putting his knee on the boy's back.
The teenage suspect has been charged with numerous offences, including unlawfully taking control of a plane and possessing a weapon.
Responding to the incident, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted that the country's airports have robust security.
'This incident is concerning for members of the public. I commend the work of police and aviation officials in responding to it quickly,' he said.
Ari Suss, Avalon Airport's chief executive, said his organisation had implemented further security measures as a result of Thursday's event.
Meanwhile, Jetstar, a budget subsidiary of Qantas Airways, said it was working with the police and the airport to understand what had happened.
The flight, which was supposed to carry about 150 people to Sydney, was cancelled.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Australian woman weighed poisonous mushrooms ahead of deadly lunch
An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives weighed poisonous mushrooms before serving a fatal lunch, prosecutors alleged on Thursday. In a murder trial that started almost six weeks ago, the prosecution claims that 50-year-old mother-of-two Erin Patterson deliberately fed her visitors Beef Wellington that contained toxic fungi. The meal took place at her home in the rural town of Leongatha in the state of Victoria in July 2023. Don and Gail Patterson, her ex-partner's parents, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, all died from mushroom poisoning. Wilkinson's husband, Ian, survived after undergoing a liver transplant. The defendant, who took to the witness stand on Monday, denied knowingly feeding her guests death cap mushrooms, arguing that the three deaths were a tragic accident. On her fourth day as a witness, Patterson said photos of mushrooms on scales that were found on her phone were likely taken at her home. "I suggest you were weighing these death cap mushrooms so that you could calculate the weight required to calculate the administration of a fatal dose for one person," prosecutor Nanette Rogers said in court. Patterson, who denied the suggestion, told the court earlier this week that she thought she was adding dried mushrooms bought from an Asian supermarket to the meal. "Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well," she said, explaining that she had deviated from her chosen recipe to improve the dish's "bland" flavour. The mother-of-two has admitted to repeatedly lying to police about foraging mushrooms and having a food dehydrator. Patterson confessed that she threw out her food dehydrator after the fatal lunch, saying she had done so "in the context of thinking that maybe mushrooms that I'd foraged or the meal I'd prepared was responsible for making people sick." The machine was later recovered — with her fingerprints on — from a local rubbish dump. "It was this stupid knee-jerk reaction to dig deeper and keep lying," she told the court. "I was just scared, but I shouldn't have done it." If convicted, she faces life in prison for murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
American, Kazakhs in Bali face death penalty over drugs: authorities
Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017. American national William Wallace Molyneaux was arrested on May 23, allegedly carrying seven packages containing 99 pills of amphetamine, Bali's narcotics agency told reporters in Denpasar. Molyneaux has multiple charges levelled against him including distributing drugs, which carries the maximum penalty of death by execution. Two Kazakh men were also arrested in April with around 49 grams of crystal meth, allegedly intending to drop it off as part of a drug deal. They were accused of transacting drugs, a charge that carries the death sentence as the maximum penalty. The American and Kazakh embassies in Jakarta did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for comment. The narcotics agency said it had uncovered 15 drug cases in Bali between April and May, resulting in 21 arrests including five foreigners. The other cases include an Australian man who was arrested with nearly 200 grams of hashish and 92 grams of THC in Denpasar and an Indian man caught with 488 grams of marijuana at Bali's international airport. Both face hefty prison terms. The latest cases come after the trial of three Brits began on Tuesday, all accused of smuggling drugs or taking part in a drugs deal, leaving them also facing the death penalty. The British embassy in Jakarta said London's policy on the death penalty was to be opposed "in all circumstances, as a matter of principle". It said diplomats had "made representations about the use of the death penalty to the Indonesian government at the highest levels". Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's administration has moved in recent months to repatriate several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offences, back to their home countries. According to Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, more than 90 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges.
Euronews
29-05-2025
- Euronews
Australian man arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine into Bali
Authorities in Indonesia have arrested an Australian man for allegedly smuggling cocaine on the tourist island of Bali, a charge that could carry the death penalty, officials have said. Lamar Aaron Ahchee, 43, from Cairns in north Queensland, was arrested last Thursday after police raided his rented house near Kuta beach, a popular tourist spot, and seized 1.7 kilograms of cocaine in 206 plastic bags, along with a digital scale and a mobile phone, Bali Police Chief Daniel Adityajaya said. The arrest followed an investigation conducted by Bali Police anti-drug surveillance teams who reported the man had received two suspicious packages sent by mail from England, Adityajaya said. "He is suspected of importing or distributing class one narcotics," Adityajaya said at a news conference in the provincial capital, Denpasar. "He is threatened with the death penalty or life imprisonment." Adityajaya said a preliminary investigation showed that the Australian had ordered a motorcycle taxi driver through the Grab online service on 21 May to pick up two packages at a post office in Denpasar. The driver was told to hand the two packages to a motorcycle taxi driver from another online service, who was ordered to deliver them to Ahchee's rented house, Adityajaya said. Adityajaya said the suspect told authorities during a police interrogation that he was asked by someone he referred to as "Boss," to take the package and distribute it in Bali. He was promised 50 million rupiah (€2,660) for handling the cocaine. On Monday, police presented the accused at the news conference where he was wearing an orange detainee jumpsuit and a mask, with his hands handcuffed. The man did not make a statement. One of his lawyers, Edward Pangkahila, said his team would accompany his client during the police questioning "to see the progress of the investigation." "He is not the owner of the cocaine, he is just a user," Pangkahila said, "The police must be able to chase and arrest the person who is acting as his boss, to reveal this case fairly." The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population. On Tuesday, Denpasar District Court handed a 10-month prison sentence to Thomas Parker, a British national who was arrested in January after he collected a package containing drugs from a motorcycle taxi driver. Indonesian authorities arrested an Argentinian woman and a British man in March for allegedly smuggling 324 grams of cocaine on Bali. About 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections' data showed.
