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Afghan plane hijack ends, 74 seek asylum, 19 held

STANSTED (England): The four-day-long hijack of an Afghan airliner ended peacefully before dawn on Thursday and half those on board immediately lodged claims for political asylum in Britain.

Police arrested 19 people from the plane and recovered four hand guns, five knives, a knuckleduster, two detonators and two grenades.

David Stevens, Chief Constable of the county of Essex, said his officers were still questioning the passengers and did not rule out further arrests.

Home Secretary (interior minister) Jack Straw told parliament that of the 150 people on the plane at the end of the hijack, 60 adults and 14 dependants, believed to be children, had applied for political asylum.

"Let me make it clear that in the talks which led to a peaceful ending of this hijacking, no undertakings of any kind concerning asylum were given by representatives of the the British government," he said.

He added: "I believe that the clearest and unequivocal signals must be sent out so as to discourage hijacking whatever its motive."

The 97-hour hijack, Britain's longest, ended during the night when the rear steps of the blue and white Ariana Airlines Boeing 727 were suddenly lowered and passengers began to leave.

Women, children and some male passengers walked down the steps in a first wave just after 3 a.m. (0300 GMT). After a break, the remaining men and the hijackers descended too. The last left the plane shortly before 6 a.m. (0600 GMT).

Afghan authorities have alleged the hijacking of the domestic flight was an elaborate plot to gain asylum in Britain for the hijackers and some of the passengers.-Reuters