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Robbers Hijack Brazilian Airliner for Getaway
Eight armed men robbed almost $3 million in cash from an armored car in Brazil on Wednesday then hijacked an aircraft with 72 people aboard to make their getaway, police said.
Federal Police agent Adriano da Costa said the gang stole $2.8 million from an armored car then boarded a domestic flight in Foz de Iguacu, a tourist attraction in the southern state of Parana on the border with Argentina and Paraguay.
It was not immediately known how they got on the plane, a Boeing 737 operated by Brazil's second largest airline VASP and carrying 66 passengers and six crew.
The plane had been heading for the state capital of Curitiba en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Sao Luis, but 15 minutes into the flight the men took control, local radio said.
They forced the pilot to land on a rural airstrip 45 miles from Londrina, a city 325 miles southwest of Sao Paulo, then fled in a pickup truck.
The pilot flew on to Londrina. All on board were safe, although there were reports that one of the men had fired a shot in the cockpit.
Federal police said they suspected a fugitive drug lord, Marcelo Borelli, was behind the robbery and hijack. ``He is one of Parana state's most notorious traffickers and thieves,'' a Londrina federal police agent told reporters. ``This is his modus operandi.''
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