Sepala Ekanayake (or Ekanayaka; born in Karatota, Matara, Sri Lanka) gained international notoriety after hijacking an Alitalia Boeing 747 with 340 passengers on June 30, 1982.
[1] On June 30, 1982, Ekanayake traveled to the New Delhi airport with some of his friends and awaited the arrival of an Alitalia Boeing 747 from Rome on its way to Tokyo.
[1] Ekanayake waited until the plane reached a level of 35,000 feet and then issued his demands to the pilot in a letter.
He also instructed that the plane was to land at the Bangkok airport, leave the doors closed, issue the demands to the Italian authorities, and communicate only through radio.
Sri Lanka passed new legislation in order to try him in their courts and sentenced him to five years in prison.
[1][3] According to Rajan Hoole's book Sri Lanka: The Arrogance of Power: Myths, Decadence and Murder, Ekanayake was allegedly involved in the 1983 Welikada prison massacre of Tamil inmates.