‘Hijacker’ disappears

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 8

‘Hijacker’ disappears

! NZPA-Reuter Geneva /I The Swiss police on Saturday found a false moustache, and a coat which "'could belong to a hijacker ’ I who held an American air- ’ liner for more than 11 hours! ' and threatened to blow it up with all 89 people aboard. i The police said the i articles were found in a toi-j t let on the aircraft, a Trans i World Airlines Boeing 707, at the end of a day-long i drama at Geneva's Cointrin ■ Airport. The plane, on a flight , from New York to Geneva, > had earlier radioed it had > been hijacked after a mys- ; terious passenger in a wig, beard, and moustache sent a

! stewardess to the captain I with messages saying a task j force of “united revolutionI ary soldiers” had seized the (aircraft. i Until the police announce- ! ment, a question mark had I hung over the bizarre affair I — was it a genuine hijack [attempt or a hoax? The 79 passengers and 10 I crew disembarked without incident after a senior T.W.A. official and Geneva’s airport security chief boarded the plane. They found no armed man aboard and evacuated everyone safely in 90 seconds. Policemen then made identity checks on all passengers, and searched baggage and the plane. But on Satur-

t day they said they had comopleted these investigations • without making an arrest. -1 The Geneva canton (state) i Justice and Police Minister ‘ (Mr Guy Fontanet) told a press conference he was r jsure at least one of the passengers aboard the plane I had been involved in the )(affair. t The hijack messages said r the plane and all aboard > would be blown up unless • the former Nazi officer, Ru- > dolf Hess, and the assassin - of Senator Robert Kennedy, ' Sirhan Sirhan, were released from prison. The messages - also demanded freedom for ■ five Croats jailed in New : York for a hijacking attempt - two years ago.