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Ice-fuelled plane bomb threat ends in jail

Manodh Marks was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis when he made the threat.

Manodh Marks was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis when he made the threat. Photos: AAP / Twitter

A man who threatened to set off a bomb onboard a flight from Melbourne while in a drug-induced psychosis has been jailed for 12 years.

Manodh Marks is the first person in Australia to be sentenced for the offence of attempting to take control of an aircraft.

The then-25-year-old forced Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 to Kuala Lumpur to turn back shortly after take-off, when he retrieved a portable speaker and battery pack from his bag and falsely claimed it was a bomb.

“I have a bomb with me … I want to talk to the pilot,” Marks told passengers.

In sentencing, County Court judge Michael McInerney said Marks ran to the cockpit door and announced that he had a bomb and “wanted to destroy the plane”.

“The passengers and crew certainly were not only concerned, but convinced, that you were indeed in possession of a bomb,” he said.

The Sri Lankan man was tackled to the ground by passengers, who used plastic cables to bind his hands and feet until the plane landed back at Melbourne Airport 15 minutes later.

Heavily armed police board the flight 90 minutes after the threat. Photo: Andrew Leoncelli

The court heard he took the drug ice on the way to the airport, inducing a psychotic episode.

A medical expert who assessed Marks gave evidence that Marks had “heard screaming voices, thought the plane was about to crash and thought he had to do something”.

One of the passengers earlier told the court he had feared for his life.

“It is the memory that remains, that replays whenever someone else makes an innocent gesture, a sudden movement … at times these memories leave me unsettled and momentarily fearful,” he said.

Marks, a catering student, had been released from a psychiatric facility on the day of the flight.

The court heard he began using the drug ice in 2016, after arriving in Australia, and had been admitted to psychiatric institutions a number of times suffering drug-induced psychosis.

Judge McInerney said Marks’ mental condition had improved in prison and he was now remorseful for what he had put the passengers through.

He pleaded guilty to attempting to take control of an aircraft, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ jail.

Marks will serve a minimum of nine years’ jail and likely be deported on his release.

Flight MH128 took off from Tullamarine at 11.26pm on May 31 last year with more than 220 passengers aboard.

Within a few minutes of take-off, Marks had left his seat and retrieved two items from his bag in the overhead locker before making the threat.

Police were criticised for the way they handled the situation, with the specialist unit taking about 90 minutes to board the plane and remove him.

Passengers were not permitted to leave the plane until 1.30am.

Passengers spoke to authorities on the tarmac after the incident. Photo: Andrew Leoncelli

ABC

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