Cyprus Police Arrest EgyptAir Hijacker

Cypriot police revealed that the alleged EgyptAir plane hijacker was arrested following tense negations at an airport in Cyprus. The arrest allowed the remaining hostages to go free as he emerged from the plane with his hands up. The man is reportedly in an “unstable psychological state.

He had a number of hostages after the plane landed, but authorities said the incident is already over. A number of conflicting reports emerge on the incident. The plane was diverted to the Larnaca airport in Cyprus from its flight to Cairo from Alexandria.

Prior to his surrender and eventual arrest, the alleged hijacker released majority of the passengers and crew members. The pilot, co-pilot and three crew members were left on board while the incident was ongoing. While there were numerous theories on the reason behind the hijacking, it was not believed to be related to terrorism.

The alleged hijacker only asked to speak to his ex-wife, who was living in Cyprus. Initial reports indicated that the motivation of the man was purely personal. However, reports also emerge indicating that the man wanted female Egyptian hostages to be released. This made the motive of the man to become uncertain. The Cypriot foreign ministry said the man appeared to be unstable when negotiations were ongoing.

Cyprus Police Arrest EgyptAir Hijacker - image credit: news.yahoo.com

Alexandros Zenon, an official of the foreign ministry, said they were able to clarify that terrorism was not involved and the man appeared to be in an unstable psychological state. The statement was made before the siege was ended. President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus said the event was not related to terrorism even with conflicting reports surrounding the incident.

Foreign ministry officials in Egypt were quoted describing the hijacker as an “idiot” instead of a terrorist. However, the ministry denied this report.

The EgyptAir plane reported had eighty-one passengers and crew members, including ten Americans, one Irish and a number of Britons. A number of passengers were seen disembarking the plane carrying their luggage while the plane was at the airport.

An earlier report indicated that the alleged hijacker had explosives strapped on his body. Cyprus police were told to move away from the plane even through there were doubts on that explosives were on board the plane.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday March 30 2016, 8:29 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Uncategorized. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0