A Turkish citizen hijacked Turkish Airlines flight 160 on a scheduled flight between Istanbul and Ankara with 194 passengers and 7 crewmembers on board. He threatened to use a razor as a weapon and claimed to be carrying explosives on his belt.

The plane landed in Athens, Greece, to refuel for a trip to Germany, at the hijacker’s insistence. While on the ground in Athens, the hijacker held the passengers and crew on the plane as hostages. He released the passengers after negotiations with the Greek authorities, but refused to release the pilot and co-pilot from the aircraft.

After gathering information from the released passengers and their sniper team’s observations, the Greek Special Forces determined the hijacker’s supposed explosives were actually candles. They made an assault on the aircraft and found the hijacker in the cockpit where they used a TASER to successfully arrest him without further incident. No passengers or crewmembers were injured.

The Greek Police were pleased with the outcome of the hijacking. “The hijacker was shot with the Advanced TASER M26 by the cockpit and he was incapacitated immediately,” commented Police Major Stefanos Kozirakis, Commander of the Greek Police Special Forces.