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April 20th, 2009

Jamaica hijack suspect captured

Posted: 09:30 AM ET

(CNN) - Military in Jamaica captured an armed man Monday who had barged onto a Canadian airliner, robbed passengers and held six crew members hostage, Jamaica Information Minister Daryl Vaz said.

The crew members were not harmed, Vaz said.

The hijacking suspect, described as a "mentally challenged" man in his 20s, had demanded that the Boeing 737 be flown to Cuba.

The CanJet flight from Halifax, Canada, had made a scheduled landing at Sangster International Airport in the Jamaican resort city of Montego Bay and was scheduled to continue on to Santa Clara, Cuba.

"The hijacking is that from a mentally challenged youngster and not anything that would be of concern in terms of an international incident," Vaz said.

The suspect gained access to the plane Sunday night through the terminal in "a breach of security" that "will be investigated," Deputy Police Commissioner Owen Ellington told CNN.

The gunman fired a shot in the boarding bridge as he entered, said CanJet Airlines Vice President Kent Woodside. No one was hit.

CanJet flight 918 was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, Woodside said. All the passengers were Canadian, he said.


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