NEW YORK (CNN) -- A man accused of playing a role in the 1968 hijacking of a Pan Am flight from New York to Puerto Rico was captured Sunday, federal officials said.
Luis Armando Pena Soltren, 66, surrendered to federal authorities at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after exiting a flight from Havana, Cuba, officials said. It's the same airport from which Pan Am Flight 281 took off more than 40 years ago.
Additional details on Soltren's apprehension were not provided by authorities.
Soltren "will finally face the American justice system that he has been evading for more than four decades," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
According to a December 1968 indictment, Soltren and three others -- Jose Rafael Rios Cruz, Miguel Castro and Alejandro Figueroa -- conspired to hijack Flight 281 on November 24 of that year.
The suspects were accused of bringing concealed guns and knives aboard the flight and using the weapons to take over the flight. Members of the crew told authorities at the time that the suspects, wielding pistols and large knives, forced their way into the cabin of the plane and ordered the crew to fly to Havana, according to court documents.
Cruz and Castro were sentenced in the 1970s after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in New York. They received 15-year and 12-year sentences, respectively. Their current whereabouts were not immediately known.
Figueroa was acquitted in 1969 after a bench trial.NEW YORK (CNN) -- A man accused of playing a role in the 1968 hijacking of a Pan Am... more
It was 1 p.m. when the control tower at the Mexico City airport got the first word of a bizarre drama that would play out over the next two hours: The pilot of Aeromexico Flight 576 radioed that a man aboard claimed to have a bomb and wanted to talk with President Felipe Calderon.
Jose Flores, a 44-year-old Bolivian preacher who lives in Mexico, says he had gotten the word from God that he had to warn Mexicans of an impending disaster — an earthquake "like none there has ever been," he told reporters after being hustled off the plane by police without anyone being injured.
Unsuspecting passengers, including Americans and French tourists traveling from the beach resort of Cancun to Mexico City, sat not fully aware of what was happening as the pilot negotiated with Flores, bringing the plane to a smooth landing and after an hour or so of talking winning an agreement to end the standoff.
The crisis began when Flores told a flight attendant that a juice can he had was a bomb. The flight attendant notified the plane's captain over the intercom, Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna told reporters.
Flores kept the 103 passengers and crew on the tarmac for more than an hour, the plane sitting surrounded by heavily armed police at the end of a runway in an area designed for emergencies. The airport remained open.
Pilot Ricardo Rios told the Televisa television network that Flores requested that the Boeing 737 be flown around Mexico City seven times, but there wasn't enough fuel to do that. The hijacker also asked that women reporters and Calderon be at the airport to talk to him, Rios said.
"He said he had tried to speak to the president for three months and since there hadn't been an answer he decided to use these type of threats with an airline," the pilot said.
Eventually, Flores agreed to release women and children. Minutes later, masked police stormed onto the aircraft with guns drawn and soon escorted several handcuffed men away without firing a shot.
Police later said there was only one hijacker, and the other men were briefly detained because the suspect had told a flight attendant he had three accomplices.
Flores told police his three companions were "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
He said he hijacked the plane after a divine revelation. Flores told authorities Wednesday's date — 9-9-09 — is the satanic number 666 turned upside down.It was 1 p.m. when the control tower at the Mexico City airport got the first word of... more
MEXICO CITY – A Bolivian religious fanatic briefly hijacked a jetliner from the beach resort of Cancun as it landed in Mexico City on Wednesday, police said. All passengers and the crew were released unharmed.MEXICO CITY – A Bolivian religious fanatic briefly hijacked a jetliner from the... more
I don't know if you have been following the story of the "Arctic Sea", but it was a Russian ship that was 'hijacked' maybe by 'pirates' in the Atlantic off the African coast. The story just keeps getting weirder and weirder: the ship went missing, it was found and everyone was fine, maybe it wasn't hijacked after all, etc, etc.
The question now is about the cargo. Originally reported as timber, some have started asking whether the cargo was something a bit more sensitive. Like missiles. For Iran.
True/Slant has a great rundown of the key events along the timeline.I don't know if you have been following the story of the "Arctic Sea", but it was a... more
Eight people have been arrested for hijacking the cargo ship Arctic Sea, Russia's defence minister says.
Anatoly Serdyukov said the group of suspects included Russian, Estonian and Latvian nationals.
The Arctic Sea went off the radar after passing through the English Channel in late July, but was found late on Sunday far south in the Atlantic.
Speculation swirled after the ship vanished, with suggestions of piracy, a mafia dispute or a commercial row.
The ship's owners had reported that the vessel was attacked 24 July in Swedish waters.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Mr Serdyukov as saying the hijackers had approached the Arctic Sea in a dinghy, claiming they needed help to repair their vessel.
But once on board the cargo ship, they threatened the crew with guns and forced them to sail south, the defence minister said.
The suspects include four Estonians, two Latvians and two Russians.
Mr Serdyukov said an investigation was underway aboard the Russian warship Ladny, where the Arctic Sea's 15-strong crew members and the suspected pirates were being questioned.
Carrying timber reportedly worth $1.8m (£1.1m), the 4,000-tonne Maltese-flagged vessel sailed from Finland and had been scheduled to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August.
The crew reported having been boarded by up to 10 armed men as the ship sailed through the Baltic Sea.
Before being found, the last known contact with the crew was when the Arctic Sea reported to British maritime authorities in Dover as it passed through the English Channel.
It was then sighted in the Bay of Biscay on 30 July.
Last weekend police in Finland said a ransom demand had been made, but emphasised that they could not confirm its authenticity.
The Arctic Sea was eventually found on Sunday night 300 miles (480 km) off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.Eight people have been arrested for hijacking the cargo ship Arctic Sea, Russia's... more
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Thirty-four fishermen are free four months after the two Egyptian vessels they were on were hijacked off the coast of Somalia, an Egyptian official said Friday.
The fishermen were released after Egyptian and Yemeni government officials intervened, according to a statement from Egypt's undersecretary for consular affairs, Ahmad Rizk. He offered no further details.CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Thirty-four fishermen are free four months after the two... more
Six Greenpeace activists scale the Federico II coal power plant in Brindisi, Italy, demanding strong leadership from the G8 on climate. Photograph: Greenpeace
Four coal-fired power stations in several parts of Italy were today occupied by Greenpeace activists as G8 leaders met in L'Aquila to discuss issues including action on climate change. More than 100 Greenpeace activists from 18 countries took part in the protests, which hope to draw attention to the group's campaign for action by world leaders on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the targets was Italy's biggest coal-burning power station at Brindisi in south-eastern Italy where protestors climbed the chimney and occupied the conveyor belt carrying coal into the plant.
A local news agency quoted one of the demonstrators as saying the power station's management had started the belt while the Greenpeace activists were still on it. "At first, they didn't know we were on the conveyor belt", said Serena Bianchi. "Then we went to tell them, but even then we had some difficulty in persuading them to stop everything."
The organisation also occupied working plants near Venice and Genoa and staged a protest at an old oil-fired power station at Porto Tolle in northern Italy that is being converted to coal. The UK activist Ben Stewart, who previously climbed the Kingsnorth coal power station in 2007 and today climbed a 160ft chimney at a site near Venice, said: "Politicians talk but leaders act. The G8 leaders must stop putting the interests of big coal and other climate polluting industries ahead of the planet and take strong, decisive leadership on climate change."
Greenpeace is campaigning for carbon dioxide emissions to be cut by 40% by 2020 from their 1990 levels, and the group is also seeking a pledge from the G8 nations to provide developing countries with more than $100bn a year for action on climate change.
There have been several other protests in Italy ahead of the G8 meeting. Ten people were arrested on Tuesday, and five were detained yesterday near L'Aquila where the conference is being held.Six Greenpeace activists scale the Federico II coal power plant in Brindisi, Italy,... more
Authorities say a cockpit hijacking alarm was mistakenly tripped on an American Airlines flight carrying more than 150 people, forcing fighter jets to escort the plane onto the tarmac.Authorities say a cockpit hijacking alarm was mistakenly tripped on an American... more
A former security guard has been sentenced to life plus 85 years in prison for the 2007 hijacking of the Joe Cool charter boat and killings of four people aboard.A former security guard has been sentenced to life plus 85 years in prison for the... more
The standoff between a man who seized a Canadian charter flight in Jamaica and authorities ended Monday with the capture of the hijacker, police said.
The gunman, described by authorities as "mentally challenged," seized the Boeing 737 Sunday at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, robbed passengers, held several crew members hostage and demanded he be taken to Cuba, CNN reported.
CanJet Airlines Flight 918 originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was on a scheduled stop at Montego Bay when the incident began, officials said. It was scheduled to fly to Santa Clara, Cuba.
The gunman fired a shot in the boarding bridge to the plane then took a number of passengers and crew hostage, said Elizabeth Scotton, a spokeswoman for the company that runs the airport.
The aircraft was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, Kent Woodside, CanJet's vice president, said. The hijacker earlier released all of the passengers, all from Canada, along with two crew members.
Two of the remaining six crew members locked themselves in the cockpit, Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz said.The standoff between a man who seized a Canadian charter flight in Jamaica and... more
A pirate gang that staged an abortive attack on a second U.S. ship loaded with food aid said Wednesday they were singling out American vessels and would kill their crews. French forces detained 11 other hijackers in a high-seas raid.
Pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at the cargo ship Liberty Sun, but its American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room. A pirate whose gang attacked the ship said Wednesday that his group was targeting American ships and sailors.
"We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.
"We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades," boasted Ismail, who did not take part in the attack on the Liberty Sun.
The move comes after U.S. Navy sharpshooters killed three pirates Sunday to win the release of a hijacked American sea captain, Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama.A pirate gang that staged an abortive attack on a second U.S. ship loaded with food... more
A rainy morning outside the nation's capital couldn't dampen the spirits of the crew of the Maersk Alabama, who returned to the U.S. a week after their ordeal off the coast of Somalia.A rainy morning outside the nation's capital couldn't dampen the spirits of the crew... more
Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at an American ship carrying humanitarian aid off the coast of Somalia in the fifth attack on a commercial vessel since the US Navy's rescue of a captured freighter captain.
The MV Liberty Sun was today heading to Kenya with a US Navy escort after the pirates' unsuccessful attempt to seize the cargo vessel and its 20-strong American crew, none of whom were reported injured.
"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," one crewman, 26-year-old Thomas Urbik, wrote in an email to his mother. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out."
The ship, which suffered some damage in the incident yesterday, "conducted evasive manoeuvres" to ward off the pirates before the destroyer USS Bainbridge arrived in response to an emergency call, a US Navy spokesman said. The pirate vessel fled before the Navy ship arrived.
The Bainbridge is the ship from which US Navy snipers killed three pirates who were holding Richard Phillips, the captain of the freighter Maersk Alabama, on board a drifting lifeboat. A fourth pirate was captured in the operation on Sunday. Phillips had been held for five days after exchanging himself to safeguard his crew.Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at an American ship... more
WASHINGTON — U.S. warships and helicopters stalked a lifeboat holding an American sea captain and his four Somali captors Sunday, while his crew briefed FBI agents about how they fought off the pirates who boarded their ship.
Nineteen American sailors guarded by U.S. Navy Seals reached safe harbor in Kenya's northeast port of Mombasa on Saturday night, exhilarated by freedom but mourning the absence of Capt. Richard Phillips, who sacrificed himself as a hostage to save them.
"He saved our lives!" second mate Ken Quinn, of Bradenton, Florida, declared from the ship deck. "He's a hero."
ATM Reza, a crew member who said he was first to see the pirates board the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on Wednesday. described how the bandits "came on with hooks and ropes and were firing in the air."
He was responding to a throng of reporters shouting questions from shore about the ordeal that began with Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.
As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.WASHINGTON — U.S. warships and helicopters stalked a lifeboat holding an American... more
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. warships are trying to stop Somali pirates from sending reinforcements to a lifeboat where an American captain is being held hostage as the high-seas standoff off Africa's eastern coast entered a fourth day Saturday.
Underscoring the high stakes involved, France's navy on Friday freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by other pirates, but one of the hostages was killed, along with two bandits. Three pirates were captured.
A Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to reporters, said the pirates have summoned assistance but at least two American ships and an Orion surveillance aircraft are deterring pirate ships and skiffs from contact with the lifeboat.
The pirates have threatened to kill their American hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips, if the U.S. attacks them, according to a Somali who has been in contact with the pirates.
The vice president of the Philippines, the nation with the largest number of sailors held captive by Somali pirates, appealed Saturday for the safety of hostages to be ensured in the standoff.
"We hope that before launching any tactical action against the pirates, the welfare of every hostage is guaranteed and ensured," said Vice President Noli de Castro. "Moreover, any military action is best done in consultation with the United Nations to gain the support and cooperation of other countries."
U.S. rules of engagement prevent the Americans using their vastly superior fighting power to engage the pirates if there is any danger to civilians.
4/11 6:58 AM ET ClipsFCNAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. warships are trying to stop Somali pirates from sending... more
Looming U.S. warships have ratcheted up the pressure on the pirates. An American hostage held by armed Somali pirates in a tiny lifeboat may be protected by a lucrative — and possibly growing — ransom on his life, experts said Friday.
But they also warned that the uniqueness of the high-stakes standoff could quickly change things.
The possible payout for Capt. Richard Phillips would be the pirates' top priority and could trump any desire for payback after his recent escape attempt, experts said. The 53-year-old Phillips jumped out of the boat Friday before being forced back in by automatic weapons fire.
The pirates are businessmen, not suicidal jihadists, said Scott Stewart, vice president for tactical analysis for Stratfor, a global intelligence company based in Austin, Texas.
"These are people who are trying to make money," Stewart said. "They want to survive this. They don't want to die, which is a good thing in the captain's favor."
Ransom price may be driven up
Jamie Lynn DeCoster, a surface warfare Navy officer who has been on piracy patrols off the coast of Africa, said the international publicity and looming U.S. warships have ratcheted up the pressure on the pirates, but could also drive up the ransom price.
Ultimately, the four pirates know they're responsible to superiors on land, who won't be as influenced by the warship guns pointed at their subordinates and may be eyeing a bigger payout than normal for a healthy Phillips, she said.
4/11 6:17 AM ET ClipsFC - StaffLooming U.S. warships have ratcheted up the pressure on the pirates. An American... more
CBS's David Martin has learned that American ship captain Richard Phillips, who is being held by Somali pirates in a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean, attempted an escape but was not successful.CBS's David Martin has learned that American ship captain Richard Phillips, who is... more
**** Update: 15:08 CNN: April 10 (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a drifting lifeboat want $2 million for his release, a fellow pirate onshore said on Friday. ****
Four gunmen holding American hostage in Indian Ocean remain defiant as US navy sends more warships to end stand-off
Stranded Somali pirates holding a American hostage in the Indian Ocean under the gaze of a US destroyer today vowed to fight if they are attacked.
The US navy last night called in a team of FBI negotiators and moved the USS Bainbridge into position to try to secure the release of Richard Phillips, who was being held by four Somali gunmen in a lifeboat some 300 miles off the Horn of Africa. But despite an apparently hopeless position, the pirates showed no signs of giving in.
"We are safe and we are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone. "We will defend ourselves if attacked," he added.
The statement intensifies the confrontation between the pirates and the world's greatest military power as more American warships make their way to the stand-off.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said it appeared the lifeboat, which was no longer tethered to the Alabama, had run out of fuel. Helicopters had also been deployed to the scene, while a P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft was securing aerial footage. "FBI negotiators stationed at Quantico [in Virginia] have been called by the navy to assist with negotiations with the Somali pirates and are fully engaged in this matter," an FBI spokesman said.
4/10 6: 42 AM ET ClipsFC - Lenny**** Update: 15:08 CNN: April 10 (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding an American... more
The seizure of an American crew and cargo demonstrates the limits of U.S. military power in an international cops-and-robbers chase along a huge, lawless stretch of African coastline.The seizure of an American crew and cargo demonstrates the limits of U.S. military... more
