Unruly Bahraini man’s flight lands him in jail

Sexagenarian threatens to blow up flight after denying alcohol on flight

DT News Network

news@dt.bh

Manama

A Bahraini man has been sentenced to six months in jail for threatening to blow up a Dubai-bound airplane from Bahrain after the passenger was denied alcohol during the flight.

The 68-year-old Bahraini citizen, identified as 'MA', will spend six months in a UAE jail after he threatened to blow up the FlyDubai FZ026 and demanded sex from a flight attendant.

According to various UAE-based publications, MA claimed that he had a bomb with him and threatened to detonate it if he was not taken to business class and treated with alcohol.

MA as well as the flight attendant was reportedly at the hearing at a Dubai Criminal Court. “He was charged with assaulting a flight attendant by screaming at her and pushing her when she refused to let him into the business class. Prosecutors also charged him with breaching the modesty of the female flight attendant by making obscene gesture to her to have sex with her,” a UAE media reported.

“He was also charged with possessing and consuming alcohol. The accused denied all the charges, claiming that he had taken medication before boarding the plane and it caused him to lose his memory about what had happened," it added.

“He seemed very much in an inebriated condition. So I did not serve him more alcohol. He then started yelling and caused disturbance. Some crew members tried to calm him down, especially when he frightened the other passengers. He threatened that he had possessed a gun and explosives and he would use them,” the Moroccan flight attendant said.

“He was constantly demanding for alcoholic beverages. The man said he possessed some alcoholic drinks and he would like to consume it. But we didn’t let him. When we landed, he opened a bag, which had full of liquor. He opened one bottle and consumed it before disembarking the plane," she explained. She added that he demanded to have sex with her in the bathroom. The Bahraini man will be deported after serving the sentence.