Members of the Monroe County Swat team arrest a man believed to be the hijacker of a Cuban Airliner at the Monroe County Airport in Key West, Fla., Tuesday, April 1, 2003. The plane was jijacked as it was leaving the Isle of Youth in Cuba, Monday. After stopping to refuel in Havana, the plane landed in Key West with all 32 passengers and crew aboard. (AP Photo/Monroe County Sheriff's Dept., Becky Harris)
Hijacked Cuban plane lands safely in Florida AP - 4/2/2003 - [Full Text] KEY WEST, Fla. -- A Cuban Airlines plane hijacked by a man claiming to have two grenades landed safely at Key West International Airport yesterday and the man then surrendered, officials said.
The hijacker was carrying a small boy when he left the plane, Key West police spokesman Steve Torrence said. The man, wearing a red jacket with ''America'' stitched in white on the back, was taken into FBI custody.
A bomb squad removed what appeared to be two grenades from the plane and officers were attempting to determine if they were genuine, he said.
The AN-24 plane landed at 11:34 a.m., about 50 minutes after it took off from Havana's Jose Marti International Airport. Some passengers had safely left the aircraft in Havana, but FAA spokesman Christopher White said 25 passengers and six crew members were still on board when the plane landed in Florida. The crew had been in contact with air traffic controllers in Miami during the flight, White said.
Major Ed Thomas of the North American Aerospace Defense Command said earlier that the Air Force had scrambled two F-15 Eagles from Homestead Air Force Reserve Base to escort the plane to Key West. It was the second hijacking from Cuba to Florida in less than a month. The plane was hijacked late Monday on a flight from Cuba's small Isle of Youth to Havana. Cuban authorities originally reported six children among the 46 people aboard the hijacked craft.
The hijacker demanded to be flown to Florida, but the plane first went to Havana because it didn't have enough fuel to make it to the United States, Cuban authorities had said. Some passengers left the plane at Havana nearly 12 hours after the man seized control. Two separate groups of as many as two dozen passengers, including a woman holding a small child, jumped from an open rear hatch into the arms of emergency workers.
Shortly after daybreak, a tank truck appeared to be refueling the craft. It would be extremely difficult for an average Cuban to get access to grenades in communist-run Cuba, where such weapons are heavily guarded by the military. It was also unclear how anyone would get a pair of grenades through the heavy security checks at Cuba's airports, especially in light of last month's hijacking on the same route. A government statement blamed the hijacking on what Havana says is the lax treatment that six other suspected hijackers received last month after forcing a twin-engine DC-3 from Cuba to Key West at knifepoint March 19.
The suspects in the earlier hijack were charged with conspiracy to seize an aircraft by force and violence and face a minimum of up to 20 years in federal prison. A judge granted them bail -- which is what angered the Cuban government -- but they remain behind bars because they have been unable to come up with the money.
The DC-3 carried 25 passengers and a crew of six. Sixteen of those aboard later opted to return to Cuba and the only non-Cuban on the flight, an Italian, was released in the United States. The rest of the passengers and crew members opted to stay in the United States under a US immigration policy that allows Cubans who reach American soil to stay and seek legal residency after a year. [End]