Pakistan says it has uncovered hijack pilot

Pakistan has uncovered a plot by a small terror cell to hijack a plane en route to the United Arab Emirates and possibly blow it up, the prime minister said tonight.

“Probably there is a group of four to six persons who might try to hijack a plane, and in particular going toward UAE,” Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali in Islamabad.

Jamali said intelligence reports indicated the men wanted to “blow it up or do something”.

Details of the plot came a day after Pakistan announced it was beefing up security at 35 airports nationwide. Jamali did not say whether the plot involved Pakistanis or international terrorists.

“Hijackers have no nationality,” he said.