KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said on Thursday they had detained a 35-year-old Indian woman who threatened to “hijack” a Malaysian Airlines aircraft after her children were refused access to see the cockpit. Abdul Samah Mat, chief of the criminal investigation department in the northern Penang state, said the woman, who is married to a Malaysian, was detained for eight hours after the incident on Wednesday on a domestic flight.

“We questioned her and we are satisfied that there was no criminal intention,” he said, adding she was freed on Thursday morning.

The unidentified Indian woman was flying from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Penang with two of her young children.

“During the flight, the children wanted to see the cockpit. The crew did not allow her and in anger she said: 'Can children hijack the aircraft? I can hijack the aircraft,'” said Abdul Samad.

He said the remarks made by the woman could be due to frustration over not being let into the cockpit.--AFP