The man who allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb on a Johannesburg-bound Air Botswana flight has been identified by Botswanian authorities as an illegal immigrant from Cameroon, local TV news reported on Tuesday.

 

SABC TV news program quoted Botswanian police spokesman Commander King Tshebo as saying that the man had been awaiting deportation at the Francistown detention center for illegal immigrants shortly before the incident on Monday night.

 

At the moment, he was being flown to Cameroon via South Africa. He was not escorted by police because he was not regarded as dangerous or a threat to other passengers.

 

The man was now in police custody and was expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

 

He would face charges of attempted hijacking and unlawful interference with a plane and its crew.

 

The man was arrested after the plane touched down at the OR Tambo International Airport on Monday evening.

 

He allegedly threatened cabin crew with two items which turned out to be a tube of lip balm and an asthma inhaler.

 

National police spokesman Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said the man banged on the cockpit door and demanded that it be opened. "He then threatened to bomb the plane."

 

There were about 20 people aboard the flight.

 

When the plane landed and the man realized it was surrounded by police, he asked for an officer to come on board.

 

The officer overpowered the man and arrested him. No bomb was found, but the passengers were highly traumatized.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)