Two apparently sozzled Mangalore-Dubai passengers on an Air India Express flight, who could not wait for alcohol to be served, created such a ruckus aboard the plane that the pilot was forced to divert the flight and make an emergency landing at the MUmbai Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). Sahar police officials said the flight left Mangalore on Thursday at 9.30 pm but was forced to land at Mumbai airport at 12.02 am because of the "security threat" posed by Prasad Shetty and Shahnawaz Khan. Shetty was on his way to Dubai to join work and Khan was going there on a business tour. Both were booked for assault and outraging the modesty of a woman and remanded to police custody till Saturday.
Officials said they started by fighting with each other and when one of the cabin crew, Altaf Mohammad, intervened they abused him as well. They then refused to switch of their mobile phones one of them said he knew airline safety norms "better than the crew" and finally started demanding liquor be served soon after the flight had taken off. "Even the seat-belt sign had not been switched off then," the complaint filed with the cops said. The report, written by the crew head, said the captain served three verbal warnings. The captain added he would be forced to land at the nearest airport if they did not sober down. "But the two responded arrogantly and threatened to jump off the aircraft if the flight was not taken back to Mangalore immediately. They also shouted that they wanted the captain to come out of the cockpit and discuss the issue," deputy commissioner of police Brajesh Singh said.
"The captain was finally forced to make the decision to land at Mumbai airport," the complaint added. The matter was brought to the notice of Air India officials, the airport traffic manager and CISF officials, after which the flight made an emergency landing. The complaint was lodged by the airport traffic manager and handed them to the Sahar police. "The two misbehaved with airport officials as well after they were offloaded. They appeared sozzled before boarding the flight and were sent to V N Desai Hospital for a test," Sahar senior inspector Dilip Patil said.
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