JAMAICAN police yesterday said they had no evidence that the 21-year-old man who hijacked a Canadian plane in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday night had links to terrorist groups.

“Our investigations have not indicated this so far,” Superintendent Maurice Robinson told the Observer yesterday.

Robinson said “all persons of interest” who have been deported to the island or those with alleged links to “questionable groups” overseas were closely monitored by the police.

Stephen Fray forced his way past security check points at the Sangster International Airport, seizing the Canjet Airlines plane. He subsequently released all 159 passengers and two crew members, but held six other members of the crew hostage until early Monday morning when soldiers entered the plane and disarmed him.

On April 1 last year, 32-year-old Kevin Brown, a Jamaican, was arrested at the Orlando International Airport after he allegedly tried to board a plane with an explosive device. Brown’s final destination, the police said at the time, was St James.

“Based on what is happening in the region and overseas, we have been keeping a watchful eye,” an officer from the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) told the Observer yesterday.

A list of some plane hijackings around the world in recent years

. February 1, 2009 – Security forces rushed to the Indira Gandhi International Airport after the pilot of an Indigo flight E664 from Goa, carrying 163 passengers and six crew on board, reported suspected hijackers on board. The plane hijack scare ended Sunday evening with three unruly passengers being taken into detention.

. January 24, 2007 – A Boeing passenger jet of Sudan was hijacked and diverted from its original flight course to Chadian capital of Ndjamena.

. October 15, 2008 – A drunken passenger flying on a Turkish Airlines flight claimed he had a bomb and threatened to detonate it unless he was taken to the cockpit of the plane. But other passengers tackled the man and overpowered him, and the plane continued on to St Petersburg.

. August 26, 2008 – A Sudanese plane was hijacked shortly after take-off from Nyala, in Darfur region. The plane, carrying 95 passengers, first attempted to land in Cairo, Egypt, but was denied permission and proceeded to land in Kufra, an oasis town in the deserts of Libya. After a standoff, two of the hijackers surrendered on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

. August 18, 2007 – A passenger aircraft with 136 passengers and six crew on board was hijacked on flight from Nicosia to Istanbul and landed at Antalya Airport for refueling. The hijacker had wanted the plane to fly to Iran. The Turkish media later said the two men did not have a bomb as they had claimed.

. April 10, 2007 – A Turkish plane was hijacked and forced to land in the capital Ankara after a male hijacker, 39-year-old Mehmet Goksingol, claimed to have explosives and hijacked the plane while it was travelling from Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir to Istanbul.

. October 3, 2006 – A Turkish airliner was hijacked in Greek airspace after taking off from the Albanian capital Tirana.

. September 12, 2005 – Two armed men hijacked a small Colombian plane carrying about 25 people. The plane was on its way from the southern city Florencia to Bogota before it was taken.

. December 28, 2006 – An attempted assault on the crew of a Russian Aeroflot airliner forced the pilot to make an unscheduled emergency landing in Prague.

Fatal US hijacking events since 1970

The following are the known fatal hijacking events involving a US carrier or a flight arriving or departing the US where at least one passenger was killed.

. 5 July 1972 – Pacific Southwest 737-200; San Francisco, CA: The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Sacramento to San Francisco when shortly before landing it was hijacked by two armed men who intended to have the aircraft fly to the Soviet Union. As the three outside FBI agents began to climb the stairs to enter the aircraft, a gun battle broke out which resulted in the deaths of both of the hijackers and one of the 77 passengers. Two other passengers were wounded, but survived. None of the seven crew members were injured.

. 17 December 1973 – Pan Am 747, Rome, Italy: While the aircraft was at the gate loading passengers, a group of terrorists shot at the plane and threw incendiary grenades into the aircraft, killing 30. The terrorists later hijacked a nearby Lufthansa 737.

. 14 June 1985 – TWA 727 Athens, Greece: The aircraft was hijacked and the 153 crew and passengers were taken hostage for several days. A US military member was killed by the hijackers during this time.

. 5 September 1986 – Pan Am 747; Karachi, Pakistan: Four hijackers attempted to take control of the aircraft while it was on the ground, but the flight crew departed through the cockpit escape hatch. About 16 passengers were killed before the hijacking ended.

. 7 December 1987 – Pacific Southwest Airlines BAe146-200; near San Luis Obispo, CA: A recently fired USAir employee used his invalidated credentials to board the aircraft with a pistol and apparently killed his former manager and both pilots (USAir had recently purchased PSA). All five crew members and the 37 other passengers were killed.

. 11 September 2001 – American Airlines 767 (Flight 11); World Trade Center, New York: The aircraft was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles when it was hijacked and flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers. Another jet, a United Airlines 767, was hijacked and crashed into the other tower. Both towers later collapsed. All 11 crew members, 76 passengers, and five hijackers were killed, as were untold numbers of people on the ground.

. 11 September 2001 – United Airlines 767 (Flight 175); World Trade Center, New York: The aircraft was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles when it was hijacked and flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers. Another jet, an American Airlines 767, was hijacked and flown into the other tower. Both towers later collapsed. All nine crew members, 51 passengers, and five hijackers were killed, as were untold numbers of people on the ground.

. 11 September 2001 – American Airlines 757 (Flight 77); The Pentagon, Arlington, VA: The aircraft was on a flight from Dulles to Los Angeles when it was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon, collapsing part of the structure. All six crew members, 53 passengers, and five hijackers were killed.

. 11 September 2001 – United Airlines 757 (Flight 93); near Pittsburgh, PA: The aircraft was on a flight from Newark to San Francisco when it was hijacked. However, the aircraft crashed outside Pittsburgh. All seven crew members, 34 passengers, and four hijackers were killed.

Source: www.airsafe.com/events/hijack.htm