A man suspected of attempting to hijack a passenger plane flying from Bangladesh to Dubai has been shot dead by Bangladeshi special forces.
The suspect - described by officials as a 25-year-old Bangladeshi national - “took at least two members of the crew hostage using a toy gun” shortly after Bangladesh Airlines Flight BG 147 took off from capital Dhaka on Sunday evening, CNN reports.
“He tried to create a panic among the cabin crew and claimed that he wanted to enter the cockpit,” Tanbir Ahmed, spokesperson for the Bangladeshi Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, told the news network.
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According to Sky News, the suspect told the pilot that he had “a personal issue” with his wife and demanded to speak to the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Security forces stormed the Boeing 737 after it landed at the Shah Amanat International Airport in the southeastern city of Chittagong for a scheduled stopover.
All 148 passengers and crew on board the plane were safely evacuated before the commandos moved in.
“We tried to arrest [the suspect] or get him to surrender but he refused and then we shot him,” Major General S.M. Motiur Rahman of the Bangladesh Army told reporters.
The suspect died on the way to hospital.
The name on his flight ticket was Mazikul Islam, but police “believe he has several identities and are trying to confirm his real name”, says CNN.
Air Vice Marshal Hassan said he appeared to be “mentally imbalanced”.
An investigation is to be launched into how the suspected hijacker managed to smuggle “even a fake gun” past security at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, reports Indian news site NDTV.
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