A Malaysia Airlines plane en route to Kuala Lumpur returned to Melbourne shortly after take-off on Wednesday night after an economy-class passenger tried to enter the cockpit.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 was four kilometres out of Melbourne when the man is said to have left his seat, claiming to have explosives and moving towards the cockpit.
This man told Melbourne radio station 3AW he was on the plane.
"I could hear this idiot saying that he wanted to go in and see the pilot. And the staff were saying, 'sit back down sir, sit back down sir'. And he goes, 'I'm not going to sit back down, I'm going to blow the plane up.'"
Witnesses and police say other passengers and crew tackled the man and immobilised him until the plane landed and police boarded.
Victoria Police Superintendent Tony Langdon says a Special Operations group entered the aircraft and apprehended the man.
"That male is now in custody. He's a 25 year-old Dandenong man. We do believe he suffers from mental illnesses and the investigation is ongoing in relation to that."
Superintendent Langdon says the man is still being interviewed by state and Federal Police and appropriate charges will be considered once the initial investigation is complete.
Police say the man's actions do not appear to be terror-related.
Australian Federal Police Superintendent Martin Goode says there was no failure of airport security measures.
"When police did enter the aircraft they quickly ascertained that it wasn't a dangerous device. The circumstances are that the gentleman stated he had a device, and then he had a piece of equipment which, for all intents and purposes, is something that everybody would be carrying around on a daily basis."
Police say the plane has now been handed back to Malaysia Airlines.
At Melbourne Airport, Terese Loverso says she's been in contact with her 19-year-old god-daughter Ashley, who was on the flight.
"Ashley has said that they were on the plane for taking off, about a minute into the air, and this man has jumped out of the seat in front of them, took off and grabbed a woman. They think (he was holding) a syringe - they're not really sure. Two young boys that were at the airport in front of them have jumped his guy and ... He was trying to get to the cockpit. We don't know what he wanted at this stage. So I think about ten people tried to overcome him."
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