Religious 9-9-9 Hijacker Arrested

Hijackers seized a jetliner as it departed the resort city of Cancún on Wednesday and held the passengers hostage for about an hour before releasing them, Mexico's transportation secretary said. All of the passengers were freed and the hijackers arrested, Transportation Secretary Juan Molinari Horcasitas told TV Azteca television. He said the hijackers had threatened to explode a bomb but no bomb was found.

Mexico's security secretary says a Bolivian religious fanatic told police he hijacked a Mexican flight from the resort city of Cancun after receiving a divine revelation.

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna says Jose Mar Flores, 44, told police that Wednesday's date — 9-9-09 — is the satanic number 666 turned upside down.

Garcia Luna says Flores used a fake bomb to hijack the plane, then ordered the pilot to circle over Mexico City seven times. He said he wanted to warn Mexican President Felipe Calderon of an impending earthquake. So far, no earthquake has occurred, but if it does, they can't say they weren't warned. See Chick's THE WARNING.