Suspected hijacker overpowered in Israeli flight

Security guards on Israel’s national airline El Al overpowered a suspected hijacker who tried to storm into the cockpit of a Tel Aviv to Istanbul flight, apparently armed with a pocket knife, passengers said.

None of the 170 passengers on board the Boeing 757 yesterday were harmed and the plane landed safely, said Oktay Cakirlar, an official at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport.

The semi-official Anatolia news agency identified the suspect as 23-year-old Israeli Arab, Tawfiq Fukra.

Cakirlar said El Al Flight 581 sent out a hijacking signal as it approached Istanbul.

“No one was injured,” he told The Associated Press by telephone. “The terrorist is in custody at the police station at the airport.”

The suspect, a tall, skinny man with dark features, was later seen in handcuffs being taken out of the airport by undercover police.

Passengers on the plane said two security guards overpowered the man – who was armed with a knife.

Nehama Snelzo, an Israeli tourist, said the man looked scared when he was overpowered.

“He seemed to be very scared, he started saying, ‘I’m going to Istanbul to see a friend, I’m not a threat’,” Snelzo said.

Another passenger, Viv Gulmez, said the man was sitting just in front of her and he looked suspicious.

“He was going to the toilet very often, and once he made a telephone call from the plane,” Gulmez told private CNN-Turk television. “I did not hear what he was speaking, but I heard him telling the passenger next to him that he called a friend to say he was going to Istanbul.”

Snelzo said flight attendants made an announcement after the incident and tried to calm down everyone.

“In the announcement they said the man threatened one of the stewardesses with a knife,” Snelzo said. “They told us not to get scared, to sit down, not to get up and be calm.”

Snelzo played down the panic atmosphere high in the skies: ”We come from Israel, we see terrorism everyday,” she said.

But Gulmez said it was trying.

“We had quite a stress, all business class passengers were sent to the back of the plane during the incident,” she said.

The man first threatened a flight attendant with a knife and then kicked the door of the cockpit but the door was locked, some passengers said.

Istanbul police chief Hasan Ozdemir said the suspect was being interrogated.

Passengers left the airport nearly four hours after the plane landed. Authorities conducted a body search as well as a detailed search of their bags during the security checks.

Relatives of passengers who huddled at the airport were happy to meet their loved ones.

“Tonight it was a very lucky night for us,” said Izzet Anah, who rushed to the airport to meet his mother-in-law, Suzan Natan.

El Al is widely regarded as the best protected airline in the world, but also one of the most threatened. From the late 1960s into the 1980s, El Al planes and passengers were subjected to shooting attacks, hijacking and bombing attempts.

El Al’s formidable security includes armed guards at check-in, on-board marshals and extensive searches of luggage. Passengers are told to arrive three hours ahead of flights to allow enough time for the security checks.