A hero former boxer bravely swapping places with a woman being held hostage at knifepoint at an airport.
The unidentified attacker was filmed grabbing screaming security guard Botagoz Mukhtarova, 21, by her ponytail at Almaty Airport in Kazakhstan — then aggressively threatening her with a large knife and claiming to have a bomb.
As other security guards watch on helplessly, Musa Abdraim, 52, calmly walks up and offers to swap places with the screaming hostage.
“I saw that he was going to stab her,” Abdraim said. “I told him, ‘Take me hostage instead of her.”
The kidnapper agrees, with the footage showing him releasing Mukhtarova and inside grabbing hold of Abdraim, pointing the knife at his replacement hostage.
After patiently waiting for the right moment, Abdraim suddenly reaches across and snatches the knife from the suspect’s right hand.
After a brief struggle, several officers pounce on the attacker, who now faces up to 12 years in prison for the terrifying incident, officials have said.
Abdraim said he acted instinctively. He claimed he used to be a fighter, participating in combat sports like boxing, martial arts, and kickboxing but admitted “that was a long time ago.”
It’s unclear what the knife-wielder wanted.
