An Afghan colleague from years ago was a very young B-727 captain for Ariana, the Afghan airline. At some point, I think in the mid-1980's, he and his crew and some family members 'repurposed without authorization' a parked '72, got it fueled and flew it to Rome where they were granted asylum by U.S. embassy officials. It appeared to be a pre-arranged deal from the circumstances.
I haven't found a lot online about the incident but expat Afghans of that era seem to remember it well.
My former Afghan colleague recently retired as a Delta captain.
