Biman hijacker brandished a toy pistol, police say

The young man, who has been killed in a commando operation after hijacking a Biman Bangladesh Airlines, was carrying a toy pistol, police now say.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mahabubor Rahman revealed the information on Sunday night after army commandos stormed the plane fatally injuring the suspect.

“The gun with him is actually fake, a toy pistol,” Mahabubor said.

Police were investigating the incident, but were yet to get any details on the suspect’s identity, the CMP commissioner said.

“We are working on it. I hope we’ll get it very soon,” he added.   

State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali told a TV station that the suspect hijacked the plane “after a film actress had refused to marry him”.

Earlier, two passengers said the suspect fired several rounds mid-air after the Dubai-bound plane took off from the airport in Dhaka for its first stop-over, Chattogram.

Home Minister Asaduzaaman Khan Kamal told bdnews24.com he heard the suspect pointed a gun at the pilot.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh or CAAB Chairman M Naim Hassan said the suspect wore a wired clothe and seemed “a bit mentally imbalanced”.

The army’s GOC in Chattogram, Major General SM Matiur Rahman, said a pistol was seized from the suspect in his mid-20s.

“We first tried to restrain him (from doing anything harmful). As he continued being aggressive, the operation was conducted. He was injured initially. We later heard that he died. We had an action inside the plane and he died outside,” the army officer said.

State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali told a TV station that suspect hijacked the plane “after a film actress had refused to marry him”.