The two men who forced a Manchester-bound aeroplane to land at Stansted Airport under the watch of an RAF jet allegedly threatened to blow up the plane and kill its passengers and crew.
Taxi driver and supermarket employee Tayyab Subhani, 30, and restaurant worker Mohammed Safdar, 41, both born in Burnley, appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court charged with endangering an aircraft.
They were denied bail yesterday and will be remanded in custody.
A Pakistan International Airways flight PK709 from Lahore was forced to make an emergency landing at Stansted Airport on Friday – just ten minutes before it was due to land in Manchester – while being shadowed by an RAF Typhoon fighter jet.
The count alleges the defendants made false threats that the ‘crew and passengers would be killed and the aircraft blown up before landing which was false, misleading or deceptive’.
The defendants, who were travelling home after attending Safdar’s mother’s funeral, will deny the charge, their lawyers said.
Endangering an aircraft carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The Boeing 777 was carrying 308 passengers when it landed after the pilot reported threats being made.
Safdar, of Hallam Crescent, and Subhani, of Townley Street, both Nelson, Lancashire, will appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on August 5 for a plea and case management hearing.
Picture courtesy of Kuster & Wildhaber, with thanks.
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