warned that the bomb would automatically explode when the aircraft dipped below 6500 metres.
He then claimed that he would disclose the location of the on-board bomb in return for
a hefty sum of 500,000 AustralIan dollars, equivalent to USD $560,000 at the time. Adjusted
for inflation, that would be a little over 3 million dollars in today’s money.
In 1971, mankind had not discovered YouTube yet but pranksters weren’t something unheard
of, so, at first, authorities were sceptical….but the alleged Mr Brown wasn’t just goofing
around, he had put a contingency plan in place for this very event. He directed police and
Qantas officials to a locker in Sydney airport. He claimed that this locker contained an identical
bomb to the one on board the craft, providing proof that his deadly claims were indeed to
be believed.
When the bomb squad opened the locker, they found a vinyl bag. Inside the vinyl bag, a
bomb, which was very real and very dangerous. It contained an altitude detector, set to
detonate at 1500 metres.
Authorities decided to put this altitude detector to the test. The only way to do it was to
take it to the skies. They did so by replacing the explosives with a lightbulb. If the device
was real, the lightbulb would illuminate when descending beneath 1500 metres.
A Boeing 747 was then set into ascent, with the device on board. The craft climbed to
over 2,000 metres, before beginning a descent to check if Mr Brown’s device would work
as planned.
When the 747 descended to 1500 metres, the lightbulb illuminated. It was true. The device
could measure altitude. Meaning that the device on board the other plane was very capable
of exploding when it reached 6500 metres.
Qantas decided to submit to Mr Brown’s demands. It was the only logical thing to do. A commercial
airplane may itself cost hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention the lives of 133
people on board that could be saved.
$500,000 in $20 bills from the Commonwealth Bank were brought to Qantas HQ. The serial
numbers were recorded and the cash packed into two suitcases.
Mr Brown arrived at Qantas House in a Kombi van, wearing a fake beard. General Manager
Captain Ritchie then pushed suitcases through the van window, all of them stuffed with bundles
of cash. In line with his demands, Mr Brown was handed a huge sum of $500,000. 15 minutes
later, that same van was found on a street corner, abandoned. Mr Brown had made a fast
getaway.
This event brought great embarrassment to the australian police. Their 'very well laid'
plan had completely failed to catch Mr Brown or even put him on surveillance.
While the saga on the ground had been occuring, there’d been plenty of drama in the air.
The plane had been redirected back toward Sydney, with passengers onboard told that
the craft was suffering from a ‘technical fault’. The plane circled around the Botany
Bay area of Sydney, awaiting information from the ground. None was forthcoming, and the
fuel level onboard was becoming dangerously low. The military, anticipating disaster,
deployed aircraft and navy vessels.
Back onboard the flight, the plane crew searched the entire craft for a device. The passengers
began to realise that the crew were looking for a bomb, but none of the staff onboard
would admit it.
Staff on board the flight were stuck in a difficult situation, reluctant to keep flying
because of fuel levels, but unable to land because of the bomb on board.
But before disaster struck, Mr Brown, who had now received his cash, called Qantas once
again, to reveal one more unexpected twist in the plot. He told officials “you can
relax. There is no bomb aboard the plane. You can land her safely”.
With no option but to trust Mr Brown, the flight team lowered the plane to the ground.
And in doing so, they proved Mr Brown’s final words of the day to be true. There was
no explosion, there was no disaster, and there was no bomb.
The entire plot had been a hoax, and the alleged Mr Brown had managed to swindle half a million
dollars.
Mr Brown’s revelation had come in good time. The fuel tank had around only 15 minutes of
flight time remaining. A mere 15 minutes more in the air would have seen the craft crash
to the ground.
From then, the hunt was on for Mr Brown. Police hoped to find the true identity of the man,
working under the assumption that the hoaxer had used an alias. In the hunt for the culprit,
they even had a full replica of the man made, offering $50,000 for help in his arrest. The
detectives worked alongside Scotland Yard, Interpol and the FBI in a bid to narrow down
the list of suspects but none of this actually worked.
It wasn’t long before Mr Brown was found because of his own stupidity. In August of
the same year, three months after the hoax, police discovered Mr Brown’s true identity.
His real name was Peter Macari. He was from England.
He’d arrived in Australia two years earlier, having fled England after skipping bail on
a charge of indecent assault.
Having lost $25,000, which was half of his savings, he began to travel. One night, while
sitting in a motel room, he saw a movie which would change his life forever. That movie
was Doomsday Flight, released in 1966, 5 years prior to the hoax.
In the movie, a criminal plants a bomb on board an airplane, the device set to detonate
when the plane reaches a certain altitude. The criminal who planted the bomb demands
a ransom in exchange for the safety of those on board. Sound familiar?
Had he been more conservative with his ill-gotten earnings, Macari might have gotten away with
the crime. But he and his accomplice were unable to resist the temptation to splash
their cash lavishly. This accomplice was Raymond Poynting, who taught Macari how to use explosives,
then sold him some of the dangerous devices. Macari paid Poynting $50,000 for his role
in the plot.
Both men spent the money recklessly and erroneously. First, Macari bought two cars, including a
Jaguar, along with a penthouse at Bondi Beach. He then bought a car for Poynting, who couldn’t
even drive. Poynting decided to get his licence before then buying a second car… and purchasing
the Jaguar from Macari.
These purchases drew attention, a service-station attendant was suspicious of Macari’s newfound
cash and rang the police, which led to the arrests of both men.
Of the $500,000, $138,000 was found behind a wall in an old fireplace. Around $250,000
more was never recovered. The rest had been spent.
When asked about the missing $250,000, Macari, spun authorities a tale of a wider criminal
network that he had unwittingly been roped into. He claimed that a third man — the
“real” mastermind, had taken the lion's share of the ransom for himself.
Police and the court didn’t buy his story and the whereabouts of the missing part of
the ransom remained a mystery. Some believe that Macari might have hid the money somewhere
to retrieve it later.
Poynting received a 7-year jail term, while Macari received 15 years. However, Macari
was extradited from Australia 9 years after starting his sentence. On his return to England,
he began running a fish and chip shop in the south of England.
In 1986, history came full circle, when a movie was made based upon the heist. Titled
Call Me Mr Brown, the movie copied the heist which had itself mimicked a movie.
So...what happened to the missing $250,000? We may never know but what we do know is that
we must secure our precious belongings from new-age thieves and scammers. What could be
more precious than your online passwords and credit card details?
That’s why you should never use simple passwords like THIS or THIS for your online accounts.
They can be cracked in less than an hour. Similarly, you should never use one password
for more than one account otherwise all your accounts may fall into danger if any one of
them gets compromised. But, of course, remembering a unique and complex password for each account
is tedious, that's why I’ve brought
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