Cypriot police announced on Wednesday that the hijacker of EgyptAir Flight MS181 plane will be remanded in custody for eight days pending investigations.
Seif Eddin Mostafa, 59, was arrested on Tuesday after he surrendered a hostage situation that lasted for more than seven hours.
Mostafa had rerouted a plane that was heading from Alexandria to Cairo, forcing it to land in Larnaca International Airport. All passengers on the plane were safely freed after Cypriot authorities and the plane’s crew convinced Mostafa to stand down.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Interior, Mostafa had a “criminal record with several crimes of forgery, impersonation, burglary, and drug dealing”.
The ministry further claimed Mostafa—who is allegedly married to a Cypriot woman—was sentenced to one year in prison for forgery. He escaped during the revolution in January 2011.
