Forty-five years ago today, on July 20, 1973, Japan Airlines Flight 404 was on its way from Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport to Tokyo International Airport when it was hijacked by Osamu Maruoka of the Japanese Red Army and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Several countries refused to allow the plane to land, but it eventually touched down in Dubai, where the army demanded the release of Kozo Okamoto, who was serving a life sentence in Israel for his part in the Lod Airport massacre in Tel Aviv in 1972, and US$5 million (Dh18.36m). The Boeing 747 remained in Dubai for three days before flying to Damascus, then Benghazi, where the passengers and crew were released and the terrorists destroyed the plane.
Maruoka escaped, hijacked another plane over India in 1977, and was a fugitive until 1987, when he tried to enter Japan on a forged passport. He died in prison in 2011.
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