Bangladesh police say suspected plane hijacker carried toy pistol

A Bangladeshi man who was shot dead after he tried to hijack a plane had carried a toy pistol and did not have any explosives on him, police said on Monday.

"The pistol with the suspect was a toy pistol and he had no bomb attached to his body," Kusum Dewan, additional commissioner of police in the southeastern city of Chittagong, told Reuters.

"He appeared to be mentally imbalanced. We heard he had a personal issue with his wife and demanded to speak to the prime minister. But we are still investigating. We don’t want to come to any conclusion right now."

Bangladeshi commandoes shot the passenger who had tried to enter the cockpit of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight on Sunday after waving a gun and threatening to blow up the plane.