Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

**bee_bop** · 04-25-2009, 02:29 PM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

<span style="color: #000099"><span style="font-weight: bold">Hmmm...a picture !!!</span></span>

<span style="color: red"><span style="font-weight: bold">What...another picture !!!
What gives here???</span></span>

**halfwaytree** · 04-26-2009, 07:32 AM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">Anatomy of a foiled hijacking</span></span></span>

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Key players in the tense, 8-hour standoff aboard a hijacked Canadian jet in Jamaica reveal in detail for the first time how the drama unfolded — and why a female Canadian flight attendant is seen as the greatest hero among a crew of heroes</span></span>
<span style="font-style: italic">
April 26, 2009
Andrew Chung
STAFF REPORTER</span>

The young hijacker, who fancied the name "Genius," was becoming increasingly agitated. Periodically, he would march up to the cockpit and pound on the door, demanding the plane take off. It seemed as though he was already flying, out of this world.

"I said, 'Genius, what is it you really want?' " recounted Rev. Courtney Walters, a chaplain to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the country's national police, and lead negotiator with the hijacker.

"He said, 'I want $8 trillion,' " Walters recalled. "Now, who in their right mind would be making a request for $8 trillion? And he was completely serious. All his conversations about money were about billions and trillions."

Eight hours into the hijacking, it was clear a climax was near. Every minute that passed was another step into the unknown, like working against an hourglass that doesn't indicate when the sand would run out. The young hijacker had to be taken down.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Against all odds, while anti-terrorist commandos created a distraction, a female flight attendant grabbed the .38 revolver, the gun that had been menacing one person after another all night – pointed at the pilot, held to the neck of another stewardess, fired into the loading ramp.</span>

The commandos came out of nowhere and pounced.

THE HIJACKING OF CanJet Flight 918 last Sunday night in Montego Bay would unfold as a tale of pounding hearts and silent prayers, of practised procedures and on-the-fly action.

A flight attendant would negotiate the passengers' release. Another would crawl out the cockpit window. A policeman would dress in a pilot's uniform.

Through interviews with some of the key players involved, the Star can reveal for the first time some of the intricate and dramatic details involved in the takedown of the young man who wanted to be called "Genius," and the saving of a traumatized crew.

The suspect, 21-year-old Stephen Fray, was to be interrogated yesterday for the first time, according to Deputy Superintendent Michael Garrick, the lead investigator. Fray's lawyer had requested a psychiatric examination first. He's being held in the lockup at the Montego Bay constabulary station.

<span style="font-weight: bold">It's believed the tall fellow, who comes from a prominent family and attended good schools and a community college, had recently experienced a relationship breakdown and financial issues. For him, it's the beginning of a long, uncertain road.</span>

THE GUNMAN had chosen a good time to commandeer a plane. It was the last flight Sunday. The airport was winding down, soon to close, at midnight.

"The suspect arrived at the airport on a pretty well-planned timetable," said Jamaica's Transport Minister Michael Henry. "He knew the flight was going to be boarded."

Most passengers had cleared security and were boarding the CanJet flight, destination Cuba, then Halifax, where the airline is based. No one thought security was lax. One man even had his package of gum inspected. The mood in the cabin, with the tropical air lingering like a tonic, was relaxed, jovial.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The suspect showed up at the screening area, manned at that moment by two female guards. One told him to go through the metal detector. Instead, he cut to the side of it, then pulled back his shirt and showed them his gun. He pulled it out. Unarmed, they didn't attempt to stop him. He started sprinting to the gate.</span>

He was able to line up with the last few embarking passengers. A clot of them was jammed up in the aisle.

"I was talking to the stewardess," said passenger Maurice Gallant, "And then she says, 'What are you doing with that?' I just turned around and there was a gun in my face."

The flight attendant, believed to be Heidi Tofflemire, ran to the cockpit. The captain, James Murphy, came out to investigate. Tofflemire and co-pilot Glenn Johnson stayed in the cockpit, now with the door closed, sealing it from the chaos on the other side.

Murphy had the gun pointed at his head and neck, he told investigators later. He wasn't the only one. The revolver was also pointed at the head of Gary Knickle, a private security contractor for CanJet, passengers said. Knickle works for Air Kare security, an Ontario company, and flies to specific destinations such as Montego Bay, monitoring baggage for theft and drugs, a CanJet spokesperson explained.

EARLY IN THE HIJACKING, the gunman was threatening to kill people, investigators say. He kept banging on the cockpit door, demanding the plane refuel and fly him to the United States.

Some passengers were worried he had an accomplice. "We kept looking around to see who might be working with him," said Donald Porter of West Bay, N.S.

Passengers also saw the gunman repeatedly hold his gun to the head and neck of one flight attendant, believed to be Carolina Santizo Arriola, who lives in the Greater Toronto Area. Walters said Santizo Arriola was extremely effective with the hijacker.

"There was one stewardess in particular who was extremely calming," said Walters, who debriefed four of the crew members after the hijacking.

"He spoke to her more than anyone else regardless of how high-flown he was. Whether he liked her personally, I don't know. She was clearly a very calming person for him."

Santizo Arriola is also believed to have played a role in reasoning with the hijacker to let the passengers go in exchange for money and valuables. When he agreed, one flight attendant began yelling for the passengers to move fast.

The passengers quickly got together, distributed cash to the children and others who didn't have any, and began to file to the door. As one stewardess stood shaking and holding a bag, the assailant held his gun to the neck of another. Passengers, trying not to make eye contact, dropped their cash, sometimes hundreds of dollars, into the bag or at their feet.

"By that time, the stewardess was saying, 'He doesn't want your money anymore, keep your money.' But we threw it down anyway," Porter said. He recalled the man seemed like he was high on drugs ("he kept sniffing and rubbing his nose&quot

and demanded Jack Daniels whiskey (he wasn't given any).

ON THE GROUND, an operations command was being set up inside the terminal. The Jamaica Defence Force's anti-terrorist squad and constabulary Deputy Commissioner Owen Ellington – who would take the role of "gold commander," co-ordinating the whole operation – were flying in from Kingston.

"We were hoping he wouldn't go berserk," said Insp. Melvin Dennis, who commands the airport police station. "I was shocked and surprised and praying all the time for the safety of the persons aboard and hoping for a sensible resolution."

While the freed passengers were taken to a secure area in the terminal, five crew members – Santizo Arriola, Tony Bettencourt, and Anu Goswami, all GTA residents, and Knickle and Nicole Rogers of Halifax – remained in the cabin, along with the two in the cockpit.

<span style="font-weight: bold">About two hours into the ordeal, the police decided to put an armed tactical officer into the cockpit. Tofflemire was helped out the window, up to which a luggage conveyor vehicle had been elevated.</span>

She was replaced by the officer who had donned a pilot's shirt.

Dressing the part was a strategy to do everything possible not to signal their moves to the gunman.

"It was to give the impression that nobody had left the cockpit and that the pilots were still aboard, and the plane was still operable," Ellington explained.

"If he learned the pilots had abandoned the plane, it might have led to frustration and he could have injured the crew members."

He needed to believe that as long as he was compliant, it would still be possible to grant his wishes.

Co-pilot Glenn Johnson, of Montreal, worked with the negotiator.

When Walters wasn't speaking with the suspect, Johnson was, with his guidance, Walters said.

Meanwhile, Capt. Murphy had left, Porter said, because the frustrated gunman had demanded that he go. "The man didn't want him there because he wasn't doing what the man wanted."

FROM OTHER SOURCES, it's understood that investigators could hear the suspect over the plane's intercom system and that they were communicating with him via the co-pilot's headset on the cabin interphone.

The gunman was offered a cellphone, but he refused to open the main door to retrieve it, apparently thinking it was a trick, one investigator said.

Walters, a protestant minister, had been trained in hostage-negotiating skills but had never had to put them into practice. A modest yet confident man, he was at first reticent to speak to the Star, uncomfortable with the spotlight.

Playing such a central role was both exciting but also daunting, he said.

"Not having done anything like this, or even a simulation in a couple of years, it was a little taxing at first, when you had to find a response to his demands and ensure you were coordinating with the tactical team.

"It's one thing to know or to be trained in the art (of negotiation)," he added. "It's another to be in it."

Ellington, who had also gone through simulations of such a crisis, had a moment of anxiety when he realized he couldn't find his manual. The deputy commissioner had flown to the scene without it, but it all came back to him.

They were learning more and more about the hijacker, from family and friends, and even from his Facebook profile.

"We were pretty well informed about who he was," Ellington said.

From what the young man was saying, investigators determined he wasn't well – and prioritized not only the hostages' safety, but also his. Why?

"Because he's a human being," Ellington said. "The discussions we had with friends and relatives and requests he was making indicated this was somebody who required not just law enforcement attention but other attention as well."

The family members and his two best friends were brought in to talk with him, but they got nowhere, Insp. Dennis recounted.

INSIDE THE CABIN as the hours dragged on, Walters would periodically speak with the gunman, who was no longer talking about killing people. His demands just became more inconceivable. In addition to demanding billions and trillions, he said he wanted to fly to a country where that kind of cash was waiting for him, Ellington said.

Walters noted that he was also telling his hostages that once he collected all the money, he would be generous, that "he was going to set them up."

He wasn't giving up, though. And inside, he was becoming increasingly agitated. He kept banging on the cockpit door.

"Towards daybreak on Monday," Ellington said, "we realized the option of pursuing a negotiated resolution was no longer viable."

The next step was a tactical response. Johnson and the police officer were removed from the cockpit and replaced by anti-terrorist commandos.

SOMETIME LATER, the Canadian-trained soldiers also breached the cabin from another passenger door, though Ellington wouldn't specify which one.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Then, a dramatic turn. During a moment of distraction on the part of the hijacker, one of the female flight attendants apparently grabbed the gun from his hands.
</span>
Deputy Superintendent Garrick, the lead investigator, said all the details must still be investigated, but "that has come to my attention."

He would not specify which flight attendant accomplished this daring feat.

Another source, who asked not to be identified, said the gunman didn't realize the soldiers were inside and, knowing this, the attendant "took the gun out of his hands. If he had the gun at the time and had pointed it at the forces, they'd have shot him."

Ellington would not comment on how the man was disarmed but said the distraction with "efforts to open the cockpit door" allowed for the swift takedown. Around 6:40 a.m. Monday, he was subdued and no shots were fired.

Having lived through a major trauma, the crew members have not talked to the media.

Efforts by the Star to speak with them as they emerged from meetings at the CanJet hangar in Halifax were met with polite requests for privacy.

In a statement, Murphy called what they lived through "one of the worst nightmares of every passenger, pilot and flight attendant."

Passengers and investigators alike have called them heroes.

Now we know why.

**Magician** · 04-26-2009, 09:52 AM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

What a ting!

Mi gi props to JDF Anti Terrorism group an is really one female FA a tek dung di highjacka.

But then again the article came from Star so

**halfwaytree** · 04-26-2009, 10:09 AM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_di_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What a ting!

Mi gi props to JDF Anti Terrorism group an is really one female FA a tek dung di highjacka.

But then again the article came from Star so </div></div>

Hey Magix,

The article actually came from the Toronto Star, not the Jamaica Star. Sorry I should have specified that.

Link

**bee_bop** · 04-26-2009, 11:27 AM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

I suppose the official government report would be the final set of facts. Although, at this time they would probably want to play it down, and focus on recovering the losses to tourism.

**Sinco01** · 04-26-2009, 12:15 PM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

link..

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 17pt"><span style="color: #FF0000">Attempted hijack, squatting, Shaw's budget - Everything is connected</span></span></span>

Published: Sunday | April 26, 2009

File
A squatter settlement along Rodney Arms, in Portmore, St Catherine.

Don Robotham, Contributor

WE MUST all be thankful that the hijack crisis ended peacefully and without casualties. The Government and the security forces are greatly to be commended. It could easily have gone awfully wrong - with consequences too horrible to contemplate.

Yet, key questions remain unanswered - not least of all in the security area. At the same time, the apparent psychological state of the hijacker leads us to reflect on the moral and psychological state of our youth. In general, our youth are in despair - and this clearly applies not only to so-called poor youth but also to uptown youth as well. There is a limit to what money can buy and we have passed that limit in Jamaica a long time ago.

Uptown parents (and grandparents!) move heaven and earth to shelter their children from the economic and social chaos of everyday Jamaican life. We shower them with the latest computer games, all sorts of electronic gadgets - from laptops to Blackberrys - with name-brand clothes of every description and with regular vacation trips abroad. Yet, as elsewhere in the society, none of this has proven able to fill the inner void in the lives of uptown youth, which remains dangerously empty.

In such a moral climate, it does not take much to mentally destabilise a perfectly normal uptown youth from a perfectly normal uptown family. Well, one can only say, a sad welcome to this club. Poor youths have been facing this situation for decades to a degree unimaginable to those of us who take material security for granted.

In the past, the moral and psychological outlook of our youth was kept wholesome primarily by the 'livity' of Rastafari and roots reggae. That 'lifeway' supplied our youth with a critique of Jamaican (and world) society and gave them some firm moral and personal orientations. In the 1970s, socialist ideology also partially fulfilled a similar role.

Triumph of global materialism and bling

But since the 1980s, with the triumph of global neoliberalism came the triumph of global materialism and bling. The entire moral atmosphere changed dramatically. Pentecostalism and other forms of Protestantism tried to fill the void but have failed to do so. The majority of our youth find the moral prescriptions of born-again Protestantism unrealistic and unattractive and, (I mean no offence) somewhat hypocritical. Our youth (not to mention us adults!) have little desire to 'make a clean break with our past' and to seek 'deliverance'.

Further, unlike Rasta and socialist ideology, by and large most versions of Pentecostalism with their unremitting focus on purely personal responsibility, lack a critique of structural societal injustice which most Jamaican youth (and youth worldwide) feel very strongly lies at the root of their condition. So the moral and psychological void continues, indeed intensifies.

When a crisis which has been festering for generations at the base of a society begins to explode at the top, watch out - it suggests that the cap of the volcano is breaking.

We must realise the depth and urgency of the crisis facing our society and the youth in particular. This is as much a moral as a material crisis. For years, people have been clamouring for a serious youth policy without much impact. The hijack event is suggesting that time may have run out on us - which leads us to the Budget Debate so far.

The Rosy Budget

Mr Shaw's presentation on Thursday continues to be far too rosy. He stated that this Budget is based on the assumption that the world economy will recover no later than the second quarter of 2010. This assumption will prove to be false.

But the flaw in his thinking is deeper. The assumption is that when the global economy recovers, existing patterns of global economic demand and consumption will simply resume where they left off, pre-crisis. This too will prove to be false. There is good reason to believe that a fundamental restructuring of the global economy is under way and that the profile of global demand in the post-recovery phase will be radically different from what it is today.

This is a government addicted to overly optimistic economic projections. One example: in last year's Budget, the Government's projected increase in revenues from bauxite-alumina was an astonishing 73 per cent! Instead, there has been a collapse of 60 per cent.

Decline in remittances

Remittances, according to the finance minister, are already showing a decline of 16.6 per cent up to February 2009. Tourist expenditure for the same period is down 1.1 per cent. All of this is before the full brunt of the crisis hit. American car sales - a major source of aluminum demand - continue to plummet - the latest development being the impending nine-week summer 'recess' of General Motors. The Jamaican economy is projected (by Mr Shaw) to contract between 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent this year. The contraction is likely to be much worse and any recovery, when it comes, will be anaemic.

What is more, what a tax package based on expanded GCT net means is that the burden is going to be spread as far and wide as the consumption of cock and chicken-noodle soup.

This raises a fundamental issue of equity and public policy. Should the aim of tax policy be to spread the tax net as widely as possible - that is to catch all the small fish in the informal sector? Or should the policy be to intensify the burden on the formal sectors and the bigger fish? How should the net be widened and on whom - outward, or upward, or both?

Will the Jamaican people perceive this tax package as fair and just? What will happen when, come next year, the projections turn out again to have been too rosy and even more burdensome economic decisions face us? How will the people react then? It may not be a matter of a failed hijack attempt by a mentally disturbed uptown youth then.

We need a better tax system, less borrowing and a much more efficient public sector. None of this is likely to resolve our underlying economic problems. Our problems are deeper than this analysis recognises. Our deficits are real ones - in the real economy - not just accounting or managerial ones.

The basic fact about our economic life is that the real sectors - bauxite-alumina, tourism, remittances - generate insufficient income to support our consumption. Our second big problem is that what happens to our bauxite, tourism and remittance income is determined by global economic forces not controlled by us.

Our third big problem is that a basic strategic transformation of the global economy may be emerging which could fundamentally alter the pattern of global expenditure in these three crucial areas for good. I shudder to think what a Jamaican economy - sans bauxite, sans tourism, sans remittances - would look like!

Squatter settlements

Solutions to this gloomy strategic economic outlook are really what our budget debate ought to be about. For everything is connected: our social, moral, psychological and economic crises are parts of the same puzzle. The massive increase in squatter settlements is a case in point. The reason why the number of squatter settlements has proliferated is because, on the one hand, with the decline of sugar and bananas, our rural economy has collapsed. And, on the other hand, Asia and elsewhere have made us uncompetitive in manufacturing so there is no positive growth in employment and residential opportunities in our cities. The transformations in the global economy are likely to make this worse not better.

So what are people supposed to do? They have to live somewhere and somehow, even if it is only in a shack on illegally occupied land. We should find some orderly way to just give people full legal tenure in these settlements and provide them with as much decent infrastructure and other social services as we can. Which sectors of Jamaican society is to bear the costs of this? It can only be the already overburdened formal sectors and the already stressed-out uptown society from which Stephen Fray originated.

**Sinco01** · 04-26-2009, 01:20 PM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

**britisha** · 04-26-2009, 03:10 PM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sinco01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

</div></div>

What about the SHE-roes, or am I missing something here?

**Magician** · 04-26-2009, 03:16 PM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

Thanks for the clarification Milo.

**bee_bop** · 04-28-2009, 04:27 AM

Re: Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: britisha</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sinco01</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

</div></div>

What about the SHE-roes, or am I missing something here? </div></div>

<span style="color: #000099"><span style="font-weight: bold">No,no...You haven't missed anything at all..except that the real <span style="font-style: italic">HE-roes</span> are <span style="text-decoration: underline">not</span> present and accounted for !!!</span></span>

Hostage situation at Sangster in Mo Bay

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