Posted on 06/30/2004 2:47:30 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
NEW DELHI: Security aboard Air-India flights has been stepped up after intelligence reports suggested terrorists might try to hijack an Indian plane flying to or from the Gulf, an airline spokesman said.
The state-run carrier was taking all anti-hijacking measures, spokesman Jitender Bhargava said. He declined to give details about who is suspected of planning such an attack.
"The alert was sounded a week ago and it continues," he said.
The Indian Express newspaper said the warning was issued by India's Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, based on a tip from defence intelligence units, and that it applied specifically to a flight to or from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Air-India and Indian Airlines, which is also stepping up security, operate 150 flights a week to various Gulf destinations, including the Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
The newspaper said additional security staff had been hired by both airlines to guard their aircraft at Dubai airport.
Islamic militants had hijacked an Indian Airlines jetliner from Katmandu, Nepal, in December 1999. The hijackers flew the plane to Kandahar in then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and the aircraft and its passengers were released only after the Indian government freed three militants held in Indian jails.
Additional security arrangements include frisking passengers and a final check before boarding, Bhargava said.
Indian airports, which have flights landing from Persian Gulf states, have also been placed on high alert, the newspaper said.
These include Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Kozhikode.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=538357§ion=news
Police foil three-man plane hijack -German TV
Tue 29 June, 2004 23:04
BERLIN (Reuters) - Three men have tried to hijack a plane from Munich to Istanbul carrying 150 passengers but the pilot was able to return to Munich airport where special forces stormed the plane, German television has reported.
Bayerischer Rundfunk television reported that police said the pilot hit an alarm button after the plane, run by the company Free Bird, had been in the air for 10 minutes on Tuesday.
The television said the 150 passengers were unhurt. It said special forces overpowered the three kidnappers and one of them jumped from the plane onto the tarmac. No other details were immediately available.
Oh you've got to be jokeing , this is the "hikacking" .????
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=538535§ion=news
Love-sick Turk forces airliner to land
Wed 30 June, 2004 08:44
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - A Turkish man with marital problems has forced an airliner carrying 155 passengers to land, screaming "Bomb, Bomb!" shortly after take-off in Germany, police say.
The Freebird holiday plane, heading to Istanbul on Tuesday night, returned to Munich airport and landed safely. The man, 28, who 10 minutes after take-off held up his mobile phone and shouted "Bomb, Bomb!", was arrested, police said on Wednesday.
None of the passengers or seven crew was hurt. The man was arrested after jumping onto the tarmac and breaking his ankle.
Police said no bomb was found and there appeared to be no terrorist background to the incident.
The man, who was not named, was in Germany on a one-month visa. He told police he had been trying to get back in touch with his estranged wife, who lived in Germany, but that she had refused.
On the plane home, he had decided he could not face his parents and tell them about the separation, according to Dieter Hillebrand, president of the Upper Bavaria police division.
"He appears to have decided to force the plane to turn back with a bomb threat," said Hillebrand.
More and more, I'm beginning to see a new axis of power quietly forming.
US, UK, Israel, India, SK, Japan.... with US, Israel and India as major players.
"He appears to have decided to force the plane to turn back with a bomb threat," said Hillebrand.
Brilliant strategy.
Maybe he'll find a new love in prison.
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