A man carrying a backpack on a flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was heard uttering the word “bomb”, terrifying the almost 200 passengers and crew on board.
Muhammad Arif was carrying his backpack on his chest when he stood in the aisle of Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 on August 14, 2023. and argued with other travelers.
Arif, 46, prayed, sang and laughed before the plane took off from Sydney that afternoon and the crew moved “concerned passengers” to other seats.
But 90 minutes into the flight, those concerns quickly escalated into an airborne emergency when “several passengers witnessed the offender use the word ‘bomb,'” according to agreed facts obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Two crew members tried to get Arif to sit back down and prevented him from moving towards the cockpit.
He pointed at one of the flight attendants and called them “dajjal,” which means antichrist in Arabic. He also told them to “back off” and “get lost.”
While they were trying to convince Arif to return to his seat, he had his hand inside his backpack.
“Don’t touch, don’t touch, don’t touch, don’t touch my bag,” she said. ‘If you love your life, don’t touch my bag. If you love your life, if you love Allah, don’t touch my bag.’
Muhammad Arif (pictured right) stood in the aisle of Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 on August 14, 2023 and argued with other travelers.
Arif (pictured left) prayed, sang and laughed before the plane took off from Sydney that afternoon, and the crew moved “concerned passengers” to other seats.
Arif said ‘Allahu akbar’ – a Muslim prayer meaning ‘God is the greatest’ – a dozen times, and one of the crew members put a hand on his backpack, according to court documents.
‘Don’t go near my bag. If you go near my bag, it could explode,” she said. ‘You have to back off. You have no idea what I have here, so back off.’
When a passenger told him he could “knock him out in two seconds,” Arif said “just do it,” adding that the man had the heart of a mouse.
Arif, whose marriage had failed and who had just left his job as a security guard in Canberra, then told a female passenger he was going to count to three.
This led a flight attendant, who feared “for the safety of the plane”, to report what happened to the captain of the Airbus-A330, which was flying over northwest New South Wales at the time.
The captain notified air traffic control “that the criminal had threatened with explosive devices”, turned the plane around and flew back to Sydney, landing at 3:47 p.m.
There were 199 people on the plane, with Arif originally in seat 21G on a one-way ticket to Pakistan via Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and Oman.
The plane was stuck on the runway for three hours, causing serious disruption to airport operations.
A woman on the flight posted on Twitter (pictured) that she had “never been so scared”
Malaysia Airlines MH122 Airbus-A330 at Sydney International Airport on August 14, 2023
In the image, passengers leave the plane after the emergency situation was controlled.
More than 30 flights were canceled and others delayed, and the airport was only able to use one runway as emergency services surrounded the Malaysia Airlines plane.
From 4:55 p.m. to 5:05 p.m., Arif stood in the hallway and said: ‘This was all (a) hoax. This was all acting. I used to be an actor.
‘I know I could go to jail now. I don’t mind. This was a test from God, for them, for a Muslim to fight against another Muslim, to save you. And you say bomb, you say bomb, my heart burns.’
At around 6.30pm, Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers boarded the plane and arrested Arif.
The A330 and Arif’s belongings were searched for bombs, but no explosive devices were found.
“An emergency response plan was put in place and an evacuation began once it was deemed safe for passengers and crew,” AFP said at the time.
Arif refused to answer police questions and was taken to a hospital for a mental health check.
The next morning, doctors determined he was “fit” for custody and he was detained for four months before being granted bail.
A woman on the flight posted on social media platform X that she had “never been so scared.”
Another told a television crew that she knew the plane had turned around because she could see it do so on the flight screen.
Court documents recorded that Arif bought a bus ticket for $51 to Sydney and then bought a plane ticket at a Flight Center store at the international airport.
He also withdrew $6,000 in cash from an ATM, then “walked back and forth for about an hour” before boarding at Gate 50 and sitting with his backpack on his lap.
Before the flight took off, she was told she had to put her bag in the overhead bin, otherwise she wouldn’t be allowed to fly.
Arif pleaded guilty to making a false statement about a plan, proposal, attempt, conspiracy or threat to destroy, damage or endanger the safety of Malaysia Airlines flight MH122.
Judge David Barrow sentenced him to a 14-month prison sentence which he will serve as an intensive corrections order in the community.
The conditions of the order, which expire in February 2026, mean Arif must not reoffend and must comply with instructions regarding his mental health treatment, including advice from a psychiatrist.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Malaysia Airlines for comment.