A security mission from Egyptian INTERPOL on Saturday retrieved the hijacker of an EgyptAir plane from Cyprus.
The case dates back to late March 2016, when Saif Eddin Mostafa, 60, hijacked a passenger plane from Alexandria’s Borg al-Arab International Airport, which was bound for Cairo, and forced its captain to head to Cyprus, where the plane then landed at Larnaca International Airport.
The plane was carrying 55 passengers, and Egyptian authorities lost contact with it shortly after it took off from the Cairo airport.
Mostafa threatened the plane’s crew by claiming to wear an explosive belt under his clothes that would blow up the planet, though it was later revealed to be a fake.
Egypt’s Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek on Saturday ordered to investigate Mostafa’s case, following the success of the legal actions taken by Public Prosecution to retrieve him from Cyprus.
Prosecution filed a request to the Cypriot prosecutor for the international extradition of Mostafa on charges of hijacking an Egyptian plane.
The Supreme Court of Cyprus agreed to the request from a memorandum of the Egyptian Public Prosecution, which guarantees criminal prosecution in accordance with international standards.
Mostafa admitted to the Cypriot authorities that he did hijack the plane only so that he could reunite with his Cypriot family after 24 years of absence.
He has been charged with 16 felonies and misdemeanors. He was sentenced to imprisonment in 2010 but escaped in the January 25, 2011 revolution. Upon surrendering in 2014 and serving his sentence, Mostafa was released in 2015.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
