M A I N   N E W S

14 charged with hijacking

LONDON, Feb 14 (PTI) — The British Police today charged 14 Afghans with the hijacking of an Afghan airliner to the Stansted airport even as 73 of the 142 released passengers flew back to Afghanistan while the authorities here drew up a plan to disperse asylum-seekers to countries with significant Afghan refugee populations.

Fourteen Afghans have been charged with unlawfully seizing the aircraft and its passengers with the use of force or threat, an Essex county police spokesman said.

After eight days of the hijacking, a chartered flight carrying 73 released passengers flew to Kandahar in Afghanistan where Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mukttawakil welcomed them.

He embraced the male passengers and offered chocolates and “shalwar kamiz” to them and a turban each to some of them.