Hijacked Airplane Crashes in Gulf
MIAMI — Three Cubans hijacked a small plane that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico off southwestern Florida on Friday, and the hijackers and pilot were picked up by the crew of a Russian freighter.
The plane, initially suspected of smuggling drugs, circled the freighter and then hit the water west of Fort Myers as a U.S. Customs Service plane gave chase. One passenger was injured.
“Because we were unable to identify it, we thought it was a doper. That’s why we launched to follow it,†said Michael Sheehan, a Customs Service spokesman in Miami.
Once in custody, three of the plane’s occupants admitted they hijacked the plane out of Guanabacoa, Cuba, using a knife and a gun. The hijackers want to stay in the United States and the pilot wishes to return home, authorities said.
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