A Canadian man has been charged with hijacking a small aircraft after he prompted a safety scare at Vancouver’s airport this week.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned Thursday Shaheer Cassim, 39, has been charged with hijacking, constituting terrorism, over the incident Tuesday that noticed the North American Aerospace Protection Command scramble F-15 fighter jets earlier than the aircraft safely landed.
The RCMP mentioned he seized management of a Cessna 172 at Victoria Worldwide Airport on Vancouver Island by threatening a flight teacher, earlier than flying about 40 miles to Vancouver.
In a recording of air site visitors management posted to liveatc.internet, an official could be heard stating: “We now have an incident proper above our airspace right here — a hijacked 172,” the Vancouver Solar reported.
Photos printed by public broadcaster CBC and video shared on-line confirmed the small white Cessna surrounded by safety automobiles on a runway after touchdown in Vancouver.
“Investigators have decided the suspect acted with an ideological motive to disrupt airspace,” Sgt. Tammy Lobb mentioned in an announcement.
A person with the identical identify and who resembles Cassim posted on social media that he was a “messenger of Allah” and a “Messiah” despatched to save lots of humanity from local weather change.
He mentioned “the Angel Gabriel appeared earlier than me and gave me a message from Allah.”
Cassim’s final publish warns about “abrupt runaway world warming” that may trigger people to go extinct inside a number of years.
Cassim additionally mentioned within the publish that he’s “Sam Carana,” who runs the “Arctic Information” weblog that describes itself as a spot the place contributors “all share a deep concern about the way in which local weather change is unfolding within the Arctic and the risk that this poses for the world at giant.”
His Fb profile says he was employed from 2008 to 2010 by now-defunct KD Air, a small airline primarily based on Vancouver Island.
Airline’s former homeowners “very shocked”
The airline’s former homeowners, Diana and Lars Banke, mentioned in an interview Wednesday that Cassim was one of many smartest and finest pilots they ever labored with, calling him a quick learner who was very smart.
However Lars Banke mentioned Cassim left the airline after getting “bored” after which went to medical faculty. He additionally mentioned Cassim believed the world was coming to an finish.
Diana Banke mentioned she was “very shocked” to listen to of Cassim’s costs, saying he was fairly younger when he labored for them and was “like a child.”
Lars Banke mentioned he recalled that Cassim was considerably involved in environmentalism, however he was unaware of any form of non secular beliefs.
“He by no means spoke faith with us,” Diana Banke mentioned.
“I am actually shocked that he would’ve finished one thing like this,” she added.
In 2012, Cassim held a information convention earlier than happening a cross-country bicycle trip to boost consciousness for world warming.
British Columbia Premier David Eby mentioned when requested in regards to the incident Thursday that it was a “weird second,” and the truth that it ended with no extra vital disruption on the airport is a “testomony” to the ability of responders who talked the suspect down.
Vancouver Worldwide Airport mentioned in a assertion that 9 inbound flights have been diverted through the incident with a brief halt to operations ordered throughout the airport within the West Coast metropolis. Flights have been grounded for 39 minutes.
Airport head of communications Stephen Sensible advised the CBC that it “might have lasted quite a bit longer.”
