A man believed to be a Kazakh diplomat tried to hijack an Alitalia plane travelling from Paris to Rome at the weekend in order to have it redirected to Tripoli.
Valery Tolmachev, who is thought to be an adviser to Kazakhstan’s mission to Unesco, allegedly held a small knife or nail file to the throat of a flight attendant on Sunday evening but was then overpowered by other members of the crew and passengers.
The captain then sent a radio message to police who took the man into custody after the plane landed safely.
The female flight attendant was not seriously injured and there were no other casualties.
Friends of Tolmachev say they are dumbfounded by the news, saying it could only be explained by the fact that he had either “gone mad” or someone had stolen his identity and it was not him at all.
However, Tolmachev was filmed leaving the airport by Italian news crews.
by Dinah Hatch
