Hijacker Used Clay, Water as Fake Weapons
A bank employee who hijacked a Japanese airliner Wednesday carried blocks of clay and bags filled with water as ploys to threaten the crew with bombs and nerve gas, police said Saturday.
Police said they found two blocks of green clay and three transparent containers filled with water in Fumio Kutsumi’s shoulder bag. They said the hijacker used them to make it look as if he were armed with bombs and nerve gas.
Kutsumi threatened to blow up the plane with “plastic explosives” and told passengers he had sarin, the nerve gas used in the March Tokyo subway attack in which members of the Aum Supreme Truth sect have been accused.
Kutsumi still made only vague comments about why he commandeered the All Nippon Airways jumbo jet. Police stormed the airliner after a 16-hour standoff.
“I wanted to make a commotion” is all he would say of his motive, according to the testimony provided by police to Japanese media.
Kutsumi, 53, was on prolonged sick leave from Toyo Trust & Banking. The bank issued an apology in 54 newspapers Saturday. “We apologize for the fact that our employee, although on sick leave, carried out such an incident,” it said.
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