Man charged with hijacking small airplane in British Columbia
Shaheer Cassim was charged with one count of hijacking and has been remanded until his next court appearance on Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
RCMP in Richmond, B.C., said in a statement that it received a report at about 1:10 p.m. PDT Tuesday that a Cessna 172 had been hijacked from the Vancouver Island area and was entering airspace near Vancouver International Airport.
The suspect was the only occupant of the aircraft.
Little information about the hijacking was made public, but the RCMP said in a statement that the suspect was taken into custody without incident by Richmond RCMP officers after the plane safely landed at Vancouver International Airport.
"Investigators have determined the suspect acted with an ideological motive to disrupt airspace," Sgt. Tammy Lobb, media relations officer with federal policing, Pacific region, said in a statement.
"Thankfully, no one was injured during this incident."
Victoria International Airport confirmed the hijacking in a statement, stating that the involved plane was operated by the Victoria Flying Club.
"As this remains an active investigation, we will not be providing further comment at this time," it said.
Garry Begg, solicitor general and minister of public safety in the province, offered his thanks online to police, air traffic controllers, airport personnel and "everyone who swiftly responded to today's incident."
"Relieved that no one was physically harmed, the plane has landed safely and that air travel has safely resumed," he said in a statement.
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