Plane hijack plot unearthed

LONDON, JUNE 16. A plot to hijack an Afghan airliner to Britain by asylum seekers, on the lines of the February hijacking incident, has been busted with the arrest of a flight engineer of the State airline, Ariana, the Times reported today.

The flight engineer, who has sought asylum in Britain, said a gang planned to take over a jet on an internal flight this month and order it to fly to London, it reported. He said the gang had taken his wife and daughter hostage to force him smuggle weapons and explosives on board.

``They examined the bag he always carries on to the plane and worked out how many guns and explosives they could fit into it,'' the Times quoted a British official, who spoke to the engineer, as saying.

The official said, ``he told how security at Kabul airport was still abysmal, particularly for female passengers, and how no checks are made on flight crew and what they carry onto the plane.'' The gang knew the engineer's schedule for this month and planned to hijack an internal flight and follow the same route through Moscow to London.

An Ariana airlines boeing 727 plane, with around 170 people on board, was hijacked in February in a case of Britain's longest hijack during an internal flight in Afghanistan. It flew via Moscow to Stansted airport, about 40 km. from here, where it remained on the tarmac for four days before police brought the hijacking to a peaceful conclusion.

Many on board the plane sought asylum after arriving in Britain. Just 79 Afghans returned home voluntarily, while 14 people were charged with hijacking and 32 are being held at an hotel near Heathrow. Immigration officials are considering their appeals against the Home Secretary's refusal to grant them asylum.

The flight engineer was in the custody of immigration officials on Thursday while the investigation into the hijack plot was on. In the February hijack, the hijackers bribed Kabul airport security staff to allow up to 40 of their relatives on board and let them pass X-ray checks with handguns in the luggage.

The gang planning the second hijack told the engineer that their families would also be on board.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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