Priest used juice cans to hijack Mexican jet

A Protestant priest who hijacked a Mexican plane with 104 people aboard on a divine mission to save Mexico used three juice cans to convince crew members he had a bomb, he later told reporters.

A Protestant priest who hijacked a Mexican plane with 104 people aboard on a divine mission to save Mexico used three juice cans to convince crew members he had a bomb, he later told reporters.

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Bible-carrying Jose Mar Flores Pereira, 44, also a singer and former drug addict, surrendered to authorities here yesterday after hijacking the Aeromexico Boeing 737 on a flight from the popular tourist resort of Cancun to Mexico City.

All the passengers -- most of whom had no idea they had been taken hostage -- were safely evacuated as security forces swarmed Mexico's international airport within minutes of the plane landing.

The airline said it was originally alerted to the situation after it "received a bomb threat while in flight," according to a statement.

"It wasn't a bomb," a smiling Flores Pereira told reporters after his arrest. "It was three Jumex (juice) cans that I filled with sand and put some little coloured lights on."

While Flores Pereira acted alone, Mexican officials said they originally detained five other people because the hijacker had told a flight attendants he was acting with accomplices, referring to himself and "God and the Holy Spirit."