An Algerian refugee who attacked the pilot of a commuter airline in Northern Norway 10 years ago was deported over the weekend, after serving two-thirds of the 15-year prison sentence he’d received.
State broadcaster NRK reported Monday that the man, now age 44, was put on a plane, under guard, back to Algeria as soon as he was released from prison. Authorities in Rome supervised his transfer to another flight to Algiers.
He’d gone amok on a Kato Air flight between Bodø and Narvik in 2004, attacking both the plane’s pilot and co-pilot with an axe. Passengers helped the cockpit crew overman him and halted the attack when the plane was only around 50 meters from crashing into the ground. There were six passengers and the two crew members on board at the time, including a former government minister.
A spokeswoman for the Hordaland Police Department called the deportation “completely ordinary, without any drama.” The man had agreed to travel back to Algeria, she told NRK.
newsinenglish.no staff
