"My first conversation with a terrorist was in July 1973. His name was Osamu Maruoka," Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler, writes in his book Qissati.
He was referring to the Japan Airlines Flight 404 hijacking, which took place on July 20, 1973, shortly after departing Amsterdam. Maruoka - a former member of the Japanese Red Army - led the hijacking alongside four members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
Flight 404 ultimately diverted to the emirate. With 123 passengers (including the five hijackers) and 22 crew members on board, Sheikh Mohammed, then Minister of Defense, engaged in negotiations with the terrorists over a few days. According to Khaleej Times, he even boarded the Boeing 747 to discuss solutions.
Maruoka wanted to seek refuge in Dubai.
"After three days negotiating with the hijacker, he felt exhausted. We have agreed to fuel the plane to [let him] go wherever he wanted but would not allow the hijackers to seek refuge in our country," Sheikh Mohammed writes.
The plane eventually left the UAE, before flying to Damascus, Syria then Benghazi, Libya where all passengers were released.
The hijackers bombed the aircraft on July 24 at Benghazi Airport. Maruoka escaped and remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo. He was handed a life sentence and died in prison in 2011.
On Oct. 13, 1977 Lufthansa Flight LH181 - en route from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) to Frankfurt (Germany) - was hijacked by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who called themselves as "Commando Martyr Halima." The hijacking came in honor of Brigitte Kuhlmann, founding member of the West German left-wing militant group Revolutionäre Zellen (RZ) who was killed in 1976 by Israeli military.
The aircraft first landed in Rome (Italy) for refueling purposes, followed by Larnaca (Cyprus), Bahrain ... and then Dubai (UAE).
Upon approaching Dubai, the hijackers were denied permission to land. However, after making a low pass over the airport, the runway was cleared of all obstacles.
In Dubai, they demanded for water, food, medicine, and newspapers. After spending a night parked at the airport, one of the hijackers, Zohair Youssif Akache (alias name Mahmud), threatened to start shooting passengers if the aircraft was not refueled.
In an interview, Sheikh Mohammed said "it was his plan to keep the hijackers nervous in the event that they would give up."
"They kept up a constant movement of cars and helicopters to make [the hijackers] nervous, and also delayed the plane's refueling for 18 hours," according to Gulf News.
Dubai authorities eventually agreed. The aircraft ultimately made its way to Somalia, where hijackers were killed and passengers saved.