Mexican police end hijack drama

Mexican police have freed more than 100 passengers unharmed after a jet flying from Cancun to Mexico City was hijacked by a religious fanatic.

Jose Flores Pereira, a 40-year-old Bolivian, threatened to blow up the Aeromexico plane unless allowed to speak to President Felipe Calderon.

He said that he used a can of juice as a fake bomb.

Five other people were also detained, but police later said that there had only been one hijacker.

Transport Minister Juan Molinar said there had been no bombs on board.

"The passengers are safe. There was no bomb," he said.

"Various people who participated in the act have been detained and we are investigating," he said.

The passengers included US and French citizens, a US official told AP news agency.

'Divine revelation'

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said the hijacking had been masterminded by Mr Flores who had "had a revelation that Mexico was facing a great danger, and was threatened by an earthquake". Mr Flores told reporters after his arrest that he had used "a juice can with some little lights I attached" to seize control of the plane as it landed at Mexico City. He told flight attendants that he had three accomplices, "the Father, Son and Holy Ghost".

He said that he acted on 9 September 2009, because the numbers 9/9/9 were the inverse of 6/6/6, the number linked to the Anti-Christ.

"Christ is coming soon," Mr Flores told journalists.

Mr Garcia said that Mr Flores was a former drug addict, with a conviction for armed robbery in his native Bolivia. He has lived in Mexico for 17 years.

Mr Flores said he had gone to Cancun to preach. He is also a singer.

"I was a despicable drug addict, but Christ freed me a few years ago," he sings in one video posted on YouTube.

'Scary moments'

An official told the BBC while the hijacking was taking place that Mr Calderon had been on his way to the airport.

Mexican media broadcast live images of the drama unfolding as the plane sat at the end of the runway and passengers were seen disembarking and being led away.

Some minutes later, at least six handcuffed men were seen being taken from the plane by armed police and driven away.

Earlier reports, citing police sources, said it was initially believed the hijackers had explosives taped to their bodies.

Passenger Rocio Garcia told the Televisa TV network that the crew announced the plane was being hijacked when it landed in Mexico City.

"These were scary moments," she said.

Source: BBC

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Funny you ask that sprint, the guy actually _is_ a priest...

No doubt I'm sure you'll come back with some other double standard reply that negates the actions of any extremist Christian but blames all Muslims for the action of some.

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Priest 'behind foiled plane hijacking' in Cancun

A BOLIVIAN priest said he was acting on a divine revelation when he hijacked a Mexican plane mid-air with 104 people on board.

Bible-carrying Jose Flores Mar Pereira was said by Mexican officials to have hijacked the Aeromexico plane after it left the popular tourist resort of Cancun on a flight to Mexico City.

He told authorities after his arrest that he had "had a revelation that Mexico was facing a great danger, and was threatened by an earthquake,'' public security official, Genaro Garcia Luna, said.

The alleged hijacker was said to be a former prisoner and drug addict, who has lived in Mexico for 17 years. But it was not immediately clear if he was helped by others amid reports that up to six people had been arrested.

All the people onboard the flight were safely evacuated at Mexico City, officials said, as security forces swarmed the capital's international airport within minutes of the plane landing.

Six people were shown being led away in handcuffs by Mexican television.

Unconfirmed media reports claimed the hijackers, initially said to be three Bolivians, were carrying explosives.

But Transport Secretary Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas, refusing to confirm how many had been arrested or to give their nationalities, told local television there was no bomb on board.

"The government has control of the situation," he told local television shortly after the drama ended, adding "all the passengers have been evacuated safely, there is no bomb on the plane.''

"We intervened in this crisis and all the passengers were taken to safety. The security forces are now carrying out the necessary investigations,'' he added.

None of the hijackers had been able to enter the plane's cockpit during the flight, neither "were they able to compromise the aircraft's safety,'' he added.

Aeromexico Flight 576 carrying 104 people was hijacked after leaving the resort city of Cancun on the Caribbean coast, popular with American tourists, en route to Mexico City. The plane had not previously stopped in Bolivia, as initial reports suggested.

Reports said the hijackers had demanded to speak to President Felipe Calderon who canceled his afternoon meetings and was on his way to the sprawling airport, which acts as a regional hub for flights around the world.

Television images showed chaotic scenes as the passengers, most dressed in shorts and T-shirts, descended from the plane, some carrying young children and clutching bags.

They were briefly made to sit on the tarmac by security forces, before being led away. The last to leave the plane was the captain.

"We are in a hall of Terminal 2 and they will not let us out yet,'' Ana Laura, a lawyer who was on board with her father Gilberto Herrera, said in a text message.

Freed passenger Daniel Fernandez, told local television in an interview that one of those arrested had "carried a Bible.''

About an hour into the drama, Mexican officials said the situation was "under control'' at the airport, which sits in the middle of the Mexican metropolis.

Bomb experts then moved in and were seen on the television carefully carrying out checks on the plane.

Airport spokesman Leonardo Sanchez told reporters "the threat had originated during the flight'' and the hijackers had used "a small box wrapped in packing tape.''

The last hijacking in the region was in April in Jamaica, when an armed man took over a CanJet Boeing 737 due to fly from Montego Bay to Cuba.

All 182 people on board were rescued unharmed when Jamaican police stormed the airliner and captured the mentally troubled gunman without firing a shot.

Source: The Australian

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What do I think?? I think you're a hypocrite.

I think you are your ilk are full of double standards, that you are a bigot who has no problem blaming innocent people for things they never committed, simply because they're from the other. Yet when it comes to you and your own, you cry innocent and pretend that condemning people simply based on the actions of their co-religionists is not a valid thing to do.

I think you're a snivelling little coward who just likes to target minorities, for the sheer fact they are a minority and therefore you think they're defenseless.

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I think he's a direct product of the Christian belief that the spirit speaks through people, which opens the door for any extremist like this guy to commit such acts, and have his followers go along with him.

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I don't like your hypocritical narrow minded bigotry. As a fellow human being sprint I hold nothing against you, and were you to change your hateful views tomorrow, not a mustard seed of enmity would remain in my heart for you.

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So sprintcyclist, awaken your inner dhimmi and bow down to Abu Rashid as your rightful Muslim overlord, work towards implementing sharia in all its forms and setting up a religious dictatorship headed by Islamic clerics.

What, you don't want to do that? You must be a bigotted Nazi!

abu - seems your fasting is not having the purifying effect intended.

so, you agree there is no justification for the actions of this hijacker.
Well done on your admission.


what if that belief of over 1 billion has MANY justifications for violence ?
what if their leader himself was very violent?
do you think that is cause for questioning such a belief ?

a religious extremist ?? yes, that's a pretty fair call.

i'ld call him just a nutter

what rot abu.

"A religous extremist - yes, that's a pretty fair call" was my reply


I'm happy to condemn him for his actions.
Yoiu have not condemned any muslim terrorist/shoe thrower.
nor has any other muslim.
as long as a muslim does it, by your thoughts, that's ok.

the more the west sees this, the more we are very suspicous of islam.