TWO Libyan men believed to have been supporters of the late dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi hijacked an internal flight yesterday morning and forced the pilot to fly to Malta.

The Afriqiya Airways Airbus A320 was en route from Sabha to the Libyan capital when it was commandeered around 8.00am GMT by the two men, who had pistols and hand grenades.

After a tense time of negotiations with the Maltese military, the hijackers flew a green flag – the colour of Gaddafi’s regime – from the aircraft door and then released the 118 passengers and crew unharmed. The number included 28 women and a baby.

SO NO-ONE WAS HURT AND THE HIJACKERS ARE IN CUSTODY?

IT was indeed a peaceful ending. It appears that the two men were demanding the release from custody of Colonel Gaddafi’s son, and rather more bizarrely, they wanted to publicise the setting-up of a new political party based on Gaddafi’s philosophy.

It was the first such international hijacking incident in Libya since Gaddafi was overthrown and summarily executed in 2011.

According to Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat the hijackers “were asked to surrender any weapons in their possession. They were found to be in possession of a hand grenade and a pistol. Nevertheless the armed forces of Malta are currently conducting a full search of the aircraft and a second pistol has been found so far”.

IS LYBIA THE PROBLEM?

AS far as anyone outside Libya knows, this is the first time that an internal flight within the country has been hijacked and flown outside of Libya. But if it had happened in Gaddafi’s day, no-one would have found out, such was his control of the media in the country.

What is certain is that airports in Libya are vital strategic assets for the various factions trying to run the country. Tripoli Airport itself was razed almost to the ground two years ago when rival militias clashed over its control.

There have also been unconfirmed reports of various factions driving on to the runways around the country to halt planes in pursuit of their grievances.

Libya’s transport minister Milad Matouq said security breaches happen everywhere and Libya was no exception.

It was back in 2014 that European airspace was banned to any flight emanating from Libya, which causes those able to leave the country considerable hassle.

It seems highly unlikely that the ban will be lifted any time soon given the perilous nature of Libyan politics at the moment.

HOW CAN ANYONE HIJACK AN AIRCRAFT THESE DAYS?

HIJACKINGS have declined very considerably since the 1980s when there were around 300 ‘incidents’ in one year. The number is now just into double figures, which is why they are more newsworthy these days.

Passenger jets were the usual target back in the 1970s and 80s, but nowadays most reports of hijacking are of small single or double-engined aircraft.

The most deadly hijacking of all time was of course 9/11 when four aircraft were simultaneously commandeered by al-Qaeda terrorists and crashed into the World Trade Centre’s twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania after passengers on Flight 93 bravely intervened and prevented the hijackers reaching their target – believed to be either the White House or Capitol in Washington. Airport security had already been tightened worldwide, but after 9/11, scanners and searches became ubiquitous.

This year the only major hijacking took place in March when EgyptAir Flight 181 from Alexandria to Cairo was taken over by Seif Eddin Mustafa, an Egyptian who claimed to have an explosives belt.

He demanded to be flown to Cyprus where his ex-wife lived, and the hijacking ended peacefully when Mustafa released the passengers. One of them, Ben Innes from Aberdeen, famously posed for a ‘selfie’ with Mustafa, trying to see if he was indeed wrapped in explosives or just bluffing – turns out, the ‘bomb’ was just bits of old mobile phones.

WHY MALTA?

MALTA has a history of dealing peacefully with hijacks, and it may be that yesterday’s hijackers chose Malta because they knew they wouldn’t get shot by the Maltese police. That history goes all the way back to the days of Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, who personally negotiated the release of hostages on hijacked aircraft in the 1970s and 1980s. A hijack in Malta in 1985 ended bloodily, though, when commandos stormed an EgyptAir Boeing 737 and Palestinian terrorists fought back with 59 people in all being killed. All other hijacks involving Malta ended peacefully. Malta also maintained links with the Gaddafi regime over many years, and it was reported that members of the dictator’s family were regularly seen in the smart restaurants of the capital Valletta.

Malta is also the nearest Mediterranean island to Libya, lying between Tripoli and Sicily, making it the first destination in Europe for anyone fleeing the continuing chaos in Libya.