Flight 405 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by
Finnair between
Oulu Airport and
Helsinki Airport. On 30 September 1978, the flight was serviced by a
Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle.
Aarno Lamminparras, a 37-year-old unemployed home building
contractor who had recently declared
bankruptcy, boarded the aircraft in Oulu. Since Finnish airports did not perform
security checks on domestic flights, he was able to carry a loaded
Walther 7.65mm pistol aboard. At approximately 16:00, The aircraft continued to Helsinki, where 34 of the passengers were released. Lamminparras subsequently forced the pilot to fly back to Oulu where the aircraft circled the airport for several hours before landing to refuel. A US$ 168,000 ransom payment from
Finnair was also loaded onto the plane. The plane was then flown back to
Helsinki, where Lamminparras demanded $38,000 from
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's largest newspaper. The newspaper paid approximately $18,000, and the remaining eleven passengers were freed. Oulu police stormed Lamminparras's house and arrested him on Sunday, 1 October. A police spokesman indicated that law enforcement officers had
tapped the hijacker's home phone, and that he had made several phone calls that implied he did not plan to surrender peacefully as he had initially agreed. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in 1979.{{cite news == See also ==