MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Investigators have opened a criminal case over the hijacking of the aircraft that made an emergency landing in Khanty-Mansiisk following threats from one of its passengers, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
"A criminal case has been opened over the unlawful acts of a passenger aboard an aircraft flying from Surgut to Moscow under Article 211(2)(v) of the Russian Criminal Code (hijacking of an aircraft, combined with a threat of violence)," Petrenko told Interfax on Tuesday.
"During the flight, the drunken passenger, who threatened that he had a gun, attempted to break into the cockpit and demanded that the direction of the flight be changed," she said.
"The captain of the aircraft decided to make an emergency landing in Khanty-Mansiisk," Petrenko said.
The man has been arrested. He is a Surgut resident with a previous conviction for property damage, she said.
"A specially created reinforced investigative team, led by the head of the Committee's Urals investigative directorate for transport, has traveled to the scene," Petrenko said.
An inquiry is underway with assistance from Federal Security Service officers to clarify all the circumstances of the incident, she said.
It was reported earlier that a 41-year-old Russian passenger on an Aeroflot flight from Surgut to Moscow had demanded during the flight that the airliner fly to Afghanistan.
If found guilty, the man could be imprisoned for seven to 12 years.