Date:	Friday 18 August 2000
Time:
Type:	Boeing 737-2A1
Owner/operator:	VASP - Viação Aérea São Paulo
Registration:	PP-SMG
MSN:	20777/324
Year of manufacture:	1973
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 72
Aircraft damage:	None
Category:	UI
Location:	near Porecatu, PR -   Brazil
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Foz do Iguaçu/Cataratas Airport, PR (IGU/SBFI)
Destination airport:	Curitiba-Afonso Pena International Airport, PR (CWB/SBCT)

Narrative:
Eight men hijacked a VASP airliner and stole the equivalent of almost (U.S.) $3 million from the cargo hold. The Boeing 737-200 aircraft had just taken off from Foz de Iguacu when the hijackers took over the plane. The men forced the pilot to land on a remote airstrip in the northern forests of Parana and fled with the money bags in a waiting getaway vehicle. The pilot then flew the plane to Londrina, which was closer than the original destination, and was immediately surrounded by police units upon landing. All the hijackers had fled from the plane at the airstrip, however. Although at least one shot was fired during the incident there were no injuries. Because the hijackers boarded the plane as passengers, police suspect that they were aided by airport employees in smuggling aboard their weapons. The alleged leader of the hijackers, a key Brazilian drug dealer, was arrested on August 29.

Criminal Acts Against Civil Aviation 2000 / FAA, Office of Civil Aviation Security
El Tiempo 20 Aug. 2000
E-mail from Domingos Junior, 12-1-2007

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