Mexico's public Security Minister, Gernaro Garcia Luna, said that only one person had been arrested for the hijacking of an aircraft from Mexican resort town Cancun to Mexico City earlier Wednesday.
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Federal police prepare to enter a hijacked Boeing 737 plane at the international airport in Mexico City September 9, 2009. Hijackers seized an AeroMexico passenger plane in Mexico with more than 100 people on board on Wednesday but the incident ended quickly without bloodshed. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]
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Speaking to media in Mexico City International airport, Garcia said the Bolivian placed under arrest, named Jose Flores, made no claims or demands but had instead claimed he wanted to warn the city of a massive natural disaster.
"He said he had had a divine revelation, that he had realized it was the 9th of the 9th 2009, and said that a divine voice had warned him that a massive earthquake was about to hit Mexico City," Garcias said, adding that the hijacker had a history of alcoholism and drug addiction.
Garcia said that the hijacker had also ordered the aircraft to circle the airport seven times before landing. Flores had taken control of the aircraft an hour into the flight, by threatening to detonate an explosive device. The device proved to be three bottles of fruit juice.
Flores appeared at the press conference, chewing gum and smiling, and seeming to be nervous but unharmed.
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Mexican Federal Police present to the media Jose Mar Flores Pereira from Bolivia, the man accused of hijacking an AeroMexico plane in Mexico City, September 9, 2009. [Xinhua/AFP Photo]
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Garcia said that authorities had removed all the plane's passengers and meticulously checked their identification to ensure that Flores did not have accomplices who had escaped by hiding in the crowd.
Earlier on Wednesday, local media reported the arrest of seven people for the hijack of an aircraft which had landed in Mexico City International Airport around an hour earlier.
Within about 30 minutes of landing, media reported that all 104 passengers who were aboard the Boeing 737, Aeromexico's flight number 576 from the resort in eastern state Quintana Roo, had been freed and armed police have entered the tail of the plane.
