The Australian plumber who sparked a dramatic mid-flight emergency and led pilots to believe their plane was being hijacked, claims he thought he was banging on the plane's toilet door, not the cockpit.
Matt Christopher Lockley, 28, told police he was simply trying to get into the toilet and that he was being 'followed' by somebody who wanted to steal his bag.
'He thought the cockpit was the toilet - he thought he was banging on the door to the toilet,' said Bali police spokesman Hery Wiyanto.
Mr Wiyanto said the plumber, from Brisbane in Queensland, had slept for most of the flight and was moved to the back of the plane after talking to a passenger.
He woke up and wanted medication from his bag and was 'having hallucinations that somebody followed him and wanted to steal his bag,' Mr Wiyanto added.
Mr Lockley has repeatedly told investigators he was not drunk, but suffering from depression due to family problems.
He reportedly consumed 'four Panadol, two Voltaren and drunk two Coca Colas' before boarding the plane in Brisbane.
Mr Lockley's claims emerged just hours after Australian comedian Dan Ilic tweeted: 'Drunk Bogan Hijacker thought "cockpit" was just a fancy aeroplane name for "toilet" #boganhijack'.
In a dramatic arrest, he was hauled off the Virgin plane by Indonesian troops after allegedly sparking a hijack scare when he tried to break into the cockpit.
Looking bewildered and wearing flip-flops, Matt Christopher Lockley was dragged off the Boeing 737-800 after the jet was forced to make an emergency landing in Bali.
The Australian is accused of hammering on the cockpit door, forcing the pilot to send a mayday message that he feared the plane was being hijacked.
Lockley was handcuffed by the crew mid-air and placed in a seat at the back of the plane before being arrested when the jet touched down at the Indonesian island's Denpasar airport.
Police said they were told by a flight attendant that Lockley looked 'paranoid' and was demanding medicine.
Lockley gave blood and urine samples to police to be tested for alcohol and drugs.
'The police are having difficulty digging up information on what he intended to do because he is still in an unstable condition,' a police official at Bali airport told media straight after his arrest.
Officials said his identification included a driving licence issued by the Queensland government, a licence to perform high-risk work and a Plumbing Industry Council card.
No decision had been made to charge him, but sources said it was highly likely he would be accused of causing an affray on an aircraft.
Police today said Mr Lockley would be questioned further when his health improved and that he was in an 'exhausted' state.
The airport was closed for nearly two hours because of the incident, forcing several flights to be diverted, air force base commander Col Sugiharto Prapto said.
Mr Prapto said the plane was directed to park at the end of the runway in case explosives or weapons were involved. Scores of troops surrounded the jet.
Transport ministry official Herry Bakti said the alert was triggered when the pilot sent a signal to Bali airport that the plane had been hijacked en route from Brisbane to Bali at at 2pm local time (7am BST).
He then followed up with a verbal confirmation.'We then guided the flight to land as they were flying close to the airport,' he said.
However, a Virgin Australia spokeswoman said the pilot had entered the code for 'unlawful interference' which was 'standard operating procedure, based on the threat they perceived at the time'.
The incident occurred on a public holiday in Australia when the country remembers its war dead in the ANZAC day commemorations.
While it is not known whether Lockley had been drinking before he boarded the plane, it is understood he had consumed alcohol on the aircraft.
Under routine precautions, airlines will not allow passengers who are clearly intoxicated to board a plane.
Earlier, Palani Mohan, a passenger on a Garuda flight that was about to take off from Bali, described events when the plane made the emergency landing.
He said: 'The captain of my plane made an announcement saying we were delayed indefinitely because a hijack was going on in Bali airport, about 150 metres away from us.
'I saw at least five vehicles including military-style trucks, filled with men in uniform, rushing towards the plane.'Then the Virgin plane taxied away, followed by the convoy of security forces. The flight attendant said it's been taken off to a different part of the airport.
'Bali airport seems to be in lockdown, we've been told no planes will be departing or arriving. The pilot's not allowing anyone off our plane.'
But Heru Sudjatmiko, a Virgin Australia official on the Indonesian resort island, later said: 'This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication.
'What happened was there was a drunk person... too much alcohol consumption caused him to act aggressively.'
The 137 passengers and six crew members were unharmed.
'The aircraft landed safely and at no point was the safety of passengers in question,' an airline spokeswoman said in Australia.
Airport operations in Bali have since returned to normal, an airport official said.
Earlier, Indonesia's Metro TV had cited an Indonesian air force spokesman as saying the plane had been hijacked.
Hadi Tjahjanto told the television station: 'We got information that a 737-800 from Brisbane to Bali has been hijacked.
'The pilot indicated that the plane has been hijacked,' senior transport ministry official Harry Bhakti said on MetroTV.
'There's an information that a passenger tried to get into a cockpit, we are investigating.'
The airport was shut down for a time but after the Virgin plane was taken off the tarmac flights resumed.
Virgin Australia, also known as Virgin Blue, is the country’s second largest airline.
Started in 2000 with just two planes, within a decade it was expanded to serve 29 cities in Australia and destinations in New Zealand as well as Bali in Indonesian, Phuket in Thailand, Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Los Angeles.
Based in Brisbane, it was set up Sir Richard Branson and Brett Godfrey.
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