HCMC – Japanese authorities have identified the suspect who threatened to shoot down Flight VN5311 of Vietnam Airlines from Japan’s Tokyo to Hanoi in early January.
The suspect was a Japanese man who had received information about the flight via the Internet and made the threatening call on his own without any particular purpose, the local media reported.
He is mentally unstable.
The Japanese authorities will continue the investigation into the case and have yet to make an official conclusion.
On January 5, Flight VN5311 departed from the Narita International Airport at 10:30 a.m. with three pilots, 12 flight attendants and 47 passengers on board.
At about 11:10 a.m., the Vietnam Airlines’ office in Japan received a call from a man who said he was American. He said in Japanese that Flight VN5311 should turn back to Narita; otherwise, it would be shot down when it flew over Tokyo Bay.
When the receiver of the call asked the man to repeat what he had said, he said he was preparing to shoot the aircraft if it flew over Tokyo Bay and had better turn back.
Right after the call, the Vietnam Airlines’ office in Japan reported the news to the Vietnam Airlines’ headquarters in Vietnam, which then forwarded the call to the relevant agencies in Vietnam and Japan.
