Hijack attempt on Iran passenger plane flying to to holy city of Mashhad foiled
An Iran airliner flying 100 passengers from Ahwaz to the holy city of Mashhad was the target of a hijack plot, according to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The would-be hijacker had planned to take command of the plane and land it on the “southern shore of the Persian Gulf”.
But the plot was foiled by the country's Revolutionary Guard.
A statement posted on it's Sepahnews website read: "The plot to hijack a Fokker-100 plane of Iran Air… was neutralised on Thursday night by the vigilance of the Guards."
The suspect was reportedly arrested after the "urgent landing of the plane at Isfahan airport" in central Iran.
While the Revolutionary Guard’s statement is a little sketchy, it points to a landing in either Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates – all countries currently at odds with the hard-line Iranian government.
The Fokker 100 airliner had taken off from Ahvaz for Mashhad shortly after 10pm on Thursday, March 4.
No passengers were hurt during the operation, according to the Revolutionary Giards, and they continued their journey to Mashhad on another aircraft after a short delay.
In February, a Saudi Arabian passenger plane was set on fire after being hit by a drone operated by Houthi rebels at an airport in Saudi Arabia.
Iranian domestic flights routinely carry armed air marshals from the Guard aboard them to prevent any attempted attack or hijacking.
Iran Air has four of the elderly Fokkers in its fleet. The 109-capacity aircraft are over 30 years old but international sanctions have delayed the updating of the airline’s infrastructure.
They have been involved in four accidents in recent years – non of them have resulted in no serious injuries.
In September 2000, a man armed with a fake pistol and a crude bomb attempted to hijack an Iran Air Fokker 100 and demanded to be taken to France.
He started a fire aboard and later was detained, according to a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration report.
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