MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - A passenger jet of Russia's Aeroflot airlines made an emergency landing in Prague following an attempt to hijack the plane and the suspected attacker was arrested, an airline official and air security service said Thursday.
The A-320 airliner with 168 people onboard was en route from Moscow to Geneva when it made an unscheduled landing at Prague's Ruzyne international airport after the pilot declared an emergency.
"Preliminary reports said an attempt was made to attack the crew," Aeroflot's Irina Dannenberg said. "The liner is now at the airport, which is cordoned off by police."
Aeroflot's air security service said the suspected hijacker had been arrested.
She said the suspect, Yevgeny Dogayev, 32, had demanded the crew fly to Cairo.
An air security official said the plane would resume its flight after an additional examination and baggage checks.
The Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic said the Czech police were questioning Dogayev.
Aeroflot's deputy director general said the suspect threatened that he had a bomb.
"He is a Russian national. He said he had an explosive device and behaved strangely," Lev Koshlyakov told Russia's RTR television channel and denied media reports that the man was under the influence of alcohol.
Aeroflot's deputy chief spokesman Viktor Sokolov said it was up to the doctors to establish whether Dogayev had been drunk during the attempted attack. "Doctors must decide," he said.
The Czech Web site novinky.cz quoted Police Chief Vladislav Gusak as saying that the passengers subdued the hijacker themselves.
Aeroflot's Dannenberg said the passengers were being questioned, "Passengers are being questioned. The plane will not depart for Geneva until all of them have been questioned," she said, adding that it might happen at 10 p.m. Moscow time (7 p.m. GMT).
The Czech agency CTK said the man's family was traveling with him. Dannenberg said Dogayev's family had been taken off the flight.
"Apart from him, another nine people - his family and relatives - have been removed from the flight," she said, adding that they were at Prague's airport.
A famous Russian lawyer, Igor Trunov, said the Russian official might face hijacking charges in Russia, which envision a jail term of up to 15 years.
An official at the Ruzyne airport of Prague said it would go to court to seek compensation from Dogayev for all the expenses the airport ran into over the incident.
"The airport is currently covering all the expenses," spokeswoman Eva Krejci said.
