A man accused of making a bomb threat on an international flight out of Sydney airport on Monday afternoon has refused to leave his police cell to face court.
Canberra man Muhammad Arif, 45, has been charged with making a false statement about a threat to damage an aircraft, and for failing to comply with cabin crew’s safety instruction.
The offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $15,000.
On Tuesday morning, Arif refused to leave his cell at Surry Hills police station to come before the court, with magistrate Greg Grogin saying: “They will have to extract him if he is to come before the court.”
The matter was repeatedly adjourned while lawyers tried to speak with Arif.
“I have tried to see him,” Mostafa Daoudie, his lawyer, told the court. “But he has refused to come out of his cell.”
Arif did not appear in court on Tuesday and the matter was adjourned to Wednesday. Bail has been formally refused.
Arif was a passenger on Malaysian Airlines flight 122 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on Monday afternoon when the flight turned around because of an alleged disturbance on the plane.
Passengers claimed a man became aggressive and began shouting at people onboard. The Australian federal police alleged in a statement that a man made a bomb threat.
“During the flight, a male passenger allegedly became disruptive and claimed to have explosives onboard.”
After the plane returned to Sydney – landing at about 3.45pm and remaining isolated at the end of a runway – passengers say flight attendants stayed with the man while they moved to a separate part of the aircraft, as emergency services sought a way to evacuate the Airbus A330.
Video shot onboard once the plane had landed back in Sydney shows a man confronting airline crew. In one video, the man says: “My name is Muhammad, a slave of Allah.” He then asks a crew member: “Are you a slave of Allah?”
All passengers and crew were allowed off the plane, and the man arrested shortly after 6.15pm.
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, defended the time taken for police to board the plane and arrest Arif.
“The important thing is to try and defuse and not escalate the situation and so I praise the crew for what they did in in keeping the passengers calm, particularly the person who has been arrested now, to de-escalate this situation to the point that we got this matter resolved within three hours.”
Webb said the nearly three hours between the plane landing and security forces boarding the plane was “pretty good”, while acknowledging: “I know it’s terrifying for those people onboard and their families outside.”
Webb told Sydney radio: “The protocol in Australia is to negotiate. We don’t storm planes – we’re not TV, it’s not the movies. We want to protect the lives of all passengers.”
