Why This Preacher Chose 09.09.09 To Hijack A Plane...
September 10, 2009 at 11:53 pm
(This post was last modified: September 10, 2009 at 11:53 pm by Retorth.)
"Today" Paper - 12th September 2009 Wrote:MEXICO CITY - It was 1pm on Wednesday 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 one-time drug addict and alcoholic who now works as a preacher, 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 travelling 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 in for a smooth landing and after an hour or so of talking, winning an agreement to end the standoff.
The crisis began when Flores - a Bolivian who lives in Mexico - told a flight attendant that a juice can he had was a bomb.
Flores kept the 103 passengers and crew on the tarmac for more than an hour, the plane surrounded by heavily armed police at the end of a runway in an area designed for emergencies. The airport remained open.
Pilot Ricardo Rios said Flores requested that the Boeing 737 be flown around Mexico City seven times, but there wasn't enough fuel to do that.
"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," Mr Rios said.
Eventually, Flores agreed to release women and children. Minutes later, masked police stormed the aircraft with guns drawn and soon escorted several handcuffed men away without firing a shot.
Police later said Flores was the lone 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 the authorities Wednesday's date - 9-9-09 - is the satanic number 666 turned upside down.
Speaking to reporters after he was detained, Flores said he took control of the aircraft with "a juice can ... with some little lights I attached".
"Christ is coming soon," he added, smiling.
His wife, Ms Elizabeth Melgar, told W Radio that Flores "always told me that he was looking for a way to attract the attention of the media ... he always told me that he was waiting for a signal from God to do something".
Flores described himself as a former drug user - his wife said he had not touched alcohol or drugs for the past 17 years - and a pastor in southern Oaxaca state who had gone to Cancun to preach.
He is also a Christian music singer who, in videos posted on YouTube, sings of leaving drugs and finding God.
Passenger Pamela Cheatham, 48, an American insurance industry employee, is cautious about flying on "fateful" dates such as 9/11. But she didn't make the connection with "9-09-09" - the number that obsessed the hijacker - until after the fact.
Ms Cheatham said passengers "had no idea anything was wrong until we landed".
"When I saw the police with big guns and the Swat teams on the side of the bus, then my anxiety started to happen,'' she added.
Passengers said the hijacker remained in his seat after the landing, negotiating with the co-pilot.
Flores, who was seated towards the rear of the plane, did not draw their attention during the flight.
Passenger Randy White said the hijacker had a very serious demeanour, unlike the wildly smiling, disjointed attitude the suspect displayed after he was caught. AGENCIES
Can you believe how retarded religious people can be?!?
The work of GOD.
The dark side awaits YOU...AngryAtheism
"Only the dead have seen the end of war..." - Plato
“Those who wish to base their morality literally on the Bible have either not read it or not understood it...” - Richard Dawkins
"Only the dead have seen the end of war..." - Plato
“Those who wish to base their morality literally on the Bible have either not read it or not understood it...” - Richard Dawkins
Be back l8er.
