Man Behind Hijack Note on Jet Airways Flight Lands In No-Fly List

The note said the flight had 12 hijackers on board and a bomb in the cargo area, & should be flown straight to PoK.

The flight 9W339, which took off from Mumbai at 2:55 am, landed at Ahmedabad airport at around 3:45 am. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Reuters)

The Ahmedabad police has detained a passenger of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight, which was forced to make an emergency landing at the Ahmedabad airport on Monday, 30 October, after a note stating that there were hijackers and a bomb onboard was found in the washroom, a police officer said.

The passenger, identified as Birju Salla, a jeweller hailing from Rajula town in Gujarat's Amreli district, was taken into custody based on suspicion after the plane landed in Ahmedabad.

Salla, who now lives in Mumbai, had played a similar prank on the airline in the past out of a grudge he held, the police official said.

Gujarat police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad are in touch with the NIA over the incident, who might take up the case in the near future, reported PTI.

Earlier, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the person responsible for the security threat on the Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight had been identified and should be immediately put on the no-fly list.

The police officer said:

This is the second time when Salla did such a mischief with Jet Airways. A few months ago, he tried to harass the airline using some other trick. It seems that Salla has some grudge against the airline.

He was being questioned by senior police officials at an undisclosed location.

Flight 9W 339, which had taken off from Mumbai at 2.55 am with 115 passengers and seven crew members, landed without incident at Ahmedabad around 3.45 am. The Boeing 737-900 plane was parked at a remote bay and all 122 safely deplaned, a Jet Airways spokesperson said.

The printed note, in Urdu and English, said the flight had 12 hijackers on board and a bomb in the cargo area and should be flown straight to PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).

The aircraft is covered by hijackers, should not land in Delhi, should be flown straight to PoK.

(Photo: ANI)

Jet Airways later released a statement saying they were “not in a position to comment further at this stage”.

Giving details of what had happened, Ahmedabad Airport Director Manoj Gangal said the flight was allowed to make an emergency landing on the pilot's request.

The bomb disposal squad and the local police conducted a thorough search but found no explosive substance, said Sardarnagar police station inspector H B Zala.

(With inputs from PTI)

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