The suspect claimed cartel members had abducted a relative and threatened his family.
Authorities report a 31-year-old Mexican national attempted to commandeer a flight bound for Baja California, but fellow passengers intervened.
On Sunday, a passenger aboard Volaris flight 3041, traveling from Leon to Tijuana, disrupted the flight, attempting to force a diversion to the United States. Passengers restrained the individual, prompting the crew to reroute the aircraft to Guadalajara.
“Emergency support was provided to the airline, enabling the aircraft to land safely at Guadalajara International Airport, and the passenger was subsequently apprehended,” the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport stated.
Guadalajara police identified the suspect on Monday as 31-year-old Mario N.
Así se vivieron los angustiantes momentos en el avión de Volaris que pretendía un hombre desviar de su curso hacia Estados Unidos.
— Reporte Índigo (@Reporte_Indigo)
Police accounts indicate Mario asserted that a relative’s kidnapping prompted threats against his life, his wife’s, and their two children’s should he proceed to Tijuana.
Passenger-recorded video circulating on social media depicts Mario’s apprehension. Mexican media reported the incident “caused his children to cry and prompted his wife to reprimand him.”
A resident of Penjamo, Guanajuato—a state notorious for its high homicide rate and ongoing turf war between the Jalisco and Santa Rosa de Lima cartels—Mario’s actions align with known cartel tactics of using hostages to coerce individuals into criminal activities, according to police.
Following the aircraft’s landing at Guadalajara Airport, the Mexican National Guard took Mario into custody. A subsequent struggle resulted in a police vehicle crash, leaving Mario with unspecified injuries, according to local media reports. Flight 3041 later resumed its journey to Tijuana.
The most recent prior plane hijacking in Mexico involved a Bolivian citizen who seized control of an Aeromexico flight from Cancun to Mexico City in 2009. All 112 passengers were released unharmed after police intervention upon the plane’s landing.