Mohammed Ridwan Ali was handed a suspended sentence
19:08, 28 Jul 2025Updated 19:09, 28 Jul 2025
Mohammed Ali outside Manchester Crown Court(Image: Manchester Evening News)
A drunken passenger had to be strapped down into his seat after downing half a bottle of rum.
Mohammed Ridwan Ali, 28, was on a flight from Bangladesh to Manchester Airport when he began arguing with his sister. Things escalated, with Ali becoming abusive with other passengers and ‘staggering’ around the plane.
Manchester Crown Court heard that had to be ‘restrained’ in his seat until he was met at the airport by officers from Greater Manchester Police.
Addressing Ali, a judge told him: “I’m not convinced you really understand how inappropriate this behaviour was and I don’t think you are really sorry about it.”
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Prosecuting, Elle-Louise Fradley said that on March 6 this year, at around 6.15pm, police were called to a flight from Bangladesh following reports from the crew of an ‘intoxicated passenger’.
“It was reported that he had been disruptive during the flight,” she said.
Mohammed Ali outside Manchester Crown Court(Image: Manchester Evening News)
As officers arrested him at the gate, they found him to be ‘agitated’ and smelling strongly of alcohol. They also said his eyes were glazed and his speech was slurred.
“The crew reported that the defendant was consuming alcohol during the flight. He then had a verbal disagreement with his sister. At the point of the verbal altercation, he became volatile and shouted at other passengers and was unsteady on his feet,” said Ms Fradley.
“They decided to restrain him for the remainder of the flight.”
Later when the crew searched his bag they found a 1.5 litre bottle of Captain Morgan’s which was half empty. No statements were given by the crew at the time, but they told officers they ‘simply wished for the defendant to be removed from the aircraft’.
Representing Ali, Olivia Davin, said he was ‘embarrassed and ashamed’.
“He tells me he was stabbed to the chest in July last year, was in a coma, then received intense physiotherapy to relearn how to walk again,” she said. He suffered two cardiac arrests at the time.
As a result he has since ‘self medicated’ with alcohol, the barrister added. She described the incident as a ‘wake-up call’.
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Sentencing, Recorder David Wood said: “Being drunk on an aircraft is a criminal offence because the danger a volatile passenger can cause to the aircraft is considerable.
“You had to be tied down to your seat. They would not have done that if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
Ali, of Elsdon Road, Longsight, was handed 12 weeks imprisonment which was suspended for a year. He must also complete 10 rehabilitation activity requirements, an alcohol treatment programme and pay a £250 fine.
He had previously pleaded guilty to entering an aircraft when drunk.