Vietnamese hijacker sentenced to 20 years<\/p>\n
HANOI (Reuter): Ho Chi Minh City's People Court has sentenced
\na Vietnamese to 20 years in jail for trying to hijack an
\nIndonesian plane by threatening to set himself on fire, the
\nofficial newspaper Saigon Giai Phong reported yesterday.<\/p>\n
Van Viet Hoai Niem Tu, 46, attempted to hijack a plane
\nbelonging to Indonesia's Garuda International airline last May
\nwhen he and 109 other Vietnamese boatpeople were being
\nrepatriated to Vietnam, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
Tu was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday, it added. He had
\nleft Vietnam in 1990 and volunteered to return last April after
\nhis application to resettle in a third country was refused.<\/p>\n
Tu bought fuel, a lighter and maps before leaving Indonesia
\nwith the aim of hijacking the plane to Australia, the court
\nheard.<\/p>\n
\"Forty-five minutes after the plane took off ... Tu opened the
\ncockpit door, poured the fuel on his body and threatened (to set
\nhimself on fire) if the pilot did not change the flight route,\"
\nthe newspaper said, quoting the indictment.<\/p>\n
Security guards overpowered Tu and he was arrested when the
\nplane landed safely at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.<\/p>\n
Vietnam's best-known hijacking occurred in 1992, when a
\ndissident hijacked a leased Vietnam Airlines' Airbus flying from
\nBangkok to Vietnam and forced the crew to circle low over Ho Chi
\nMinh City, formerly Saigon, minutes before the plane was
\nscheduled to land.<\/p>\n
He dropped leaflets from the cockpit urging people to
\noverthrow the Hanoi government, then parachuted out. The plane
\nlanded safely and the hijacker was captured a few hours later. He
\nwas also sentenced to 20 years in jail.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/vietnamese-hijacker-sentenced-to-20-years-1447893297",
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