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vancouver island plane hijacker pleads guilty to terror charge

by david carrigg
published apr 09, 2026
read time 1 minute read
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read time 1 minute read
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the cessna 172 that was hijacked on july 15, 2025, by shaheer cassim sits on the tarmac at vancouver international airport. synsyx/reddit
a man who hijacked a plane in victoria last summer then flew it to vancouver international airport, triggering a response from fighter jets, has pleaded guilty to two terrorism charges.
on july 15, 2025, shaheer cassim boarded a small cessna 172 aircraft at victoria international airport with an instructor onboard and after threatening the instructor took over the controls. the instructor got out of the plane before it took off, with cassim flying directly to vancouver.
he then circled the airport for 25 minutes, forcing its closure, before landing and being arrested.
he was subsequently charged with hijacking, which is an offence constituting terrorism, and with damaging or interfering with a navigation system.
cassim, a former commercial pilot, posted on social media the day before the airport security scare that he was a “messenger of allah” sent to save humanity from catastrophic climate change.
on wednesday, federal prosecutors from the public prosecution service of canada told the canadian press that cassim had pleaded guilty in a richmond court tuesday to both charges.
the service said the charges constituted terrorist activities.
cassim is due back in court at the end of may to schedule a sentencing hearing.
dcarrigg@postmedia.com
david carrigg
david carrigg

i am an experienced journalist who has worked in this field for almost 30 years. i was trained in albany, western australia, for the albany advertiser at a time when they were still instructing new reporters how to write in shorthand. many things have changed in our industry since then, but the stories remain. i have written about almost everything over the years and still very much enjoy the job and the privilege it gives me meeting people from every walk of life.

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