Smoker Held After Threat to Hijack Plane
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An Oakland man, upset because he couldn’t smoke during a 90-minute flight, was arrested Sunday for allegedly trying to hijack the plane and threatening to blow it up, authorities said.
Shortly after the Southwest Airlines flight left Oakland for San Diego, Charles Lee Compton, 54, began arguing with crew members, who informed him that federal regulations ban smoking on flights shorter than six hours, FBI spokesman Ron Orrantia said.
Compton then allegedly gave a flight attendant a note saying he wanted the jet flown to New York and on to Cuba. Compton also demanded $13 million and claimed to have explosives, Orrantia said.
Compton was quietly informed he would be arrested when the plane landed at Lindbergh Field.
“He then said he was joking and the whole thing was just a joke,” said Dan Wilkens, a spokesman for the San Diego Unified Port District, which operates Lindbergh Field.
Compton was booked for investigation of air piracy at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego, where smoking is also prohibited.
Most passengers were unaware of the incident, Wilkens said.
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