MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, April 21 (UPI) -- The hijacking of a Canadian jet in Jamaica was thwarted by two special forces officers who sneaked into the cockpit and stormed the gunman, police said.
Jamaica's National Security Minister Dwight Nelson told Canwest News Service in Kingston on Tuesday after the gunman released all 182 passengers and two crew members Monday, one of the pilots locked in the cockpit called to say the gunman was becoming more agitated.
The two Jamaican officers climbed in a cockpit window and listened to the gunman, whom they described as mentally unstable. When he began banging on the cockpit door demanding to be flown to Cuba, the officers burst out and apprehended the startled man without firing any shots, Nelson said.
CanJet Flight 918 left Halifax for Jamaica Sunday and had a second stop scheduled in Santa Clara, Cuba, when the gunman forced his way onto the plane.
Police arrested Stephen Fray, 20, a Jamaican national, although charges hadn't been announced Tuesday afternoon.
Forty of the passengers and the flight's crew arrived back in Halifax, Nova Scotia, early Tuesday aboard separate flights, Canwest said.
