Hijackers of Libyan plane to face charges- Maltese police

Maltese Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar on Saturday said the police were bound to charge in court the two men who hijacked a plane within 48 hours of their arrest.

The commissioner added that it was too early to say if the two were linked to any terrorist group.

The law in Malta states that anyone arrested needs to be either charged within 48 hours or released.

However, the passengers of the hijacked plane on Saturday returned to Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport.

The Airbus A320 had been on an internal flight in Libya on Friday morning when it was diverted to Malta, 500 km north of the Libyan coast, after a man told the crew he had a hand grenade.

“It was a surprise honestly. They were two, and I was sitting beside them. They tried to create trouble. They then called the stewardess and started whispering and asked to speak to the captain. She refused and asked them what exactly they were demanding,” Moftah Abbas, one of the passengers.

The police commissioner said that at no point did the two men make any demands.

Passengers of hijacked Libyan plane return homehttps://t.co/BdJS5hsMKq#News #Headlines #Passengers #hijacked #Libyanplane

— worldtalk.tv (@worldtalktv) December 24, 2016

The two hijackers, named as Ahmed Ali and Mousa Shaha, were later found to be carrying replica pistols.

They freed the hostages unharmed and surrendered, having declared loyalty to Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi.