Lead defendants in the alleged hijacking of a domestic Cuban flight say they were pawns in the plot designed by Gustavo Salas Cleger, who claims not to know the men. The defendants’ faces were impassive, their eyes downcast as the man they said played them as pawns in a hijacking plot told a federal court Monday that he did not know any of them and never discussed with them any skyjacking plans. The witness, Gustavo Salas Cleger, copiloted a domestic Cuban DC-3 flight that was diverted to Key West on March 19. Salas, who still lives in Cuba, testified Monday in the sixth day of the trial of six Cuban men accused of forcibly overtaking the plane using kitchen knives, packing tape and string. No one aboard the 37-person flight was injured, though each of the accused men faces up to life imprisonment if convicted of air piracy and conspiracy. In earlier testimony, the lead defendant, Alexis Norneilla Morales, said Salas and an airport security guard sought him out last year and presented detailed plans to stage a hijacking. At the two men’s instructions, Norneilla said, he recruited family members and friends, and was furnished with knives by the airport security guard to ”put on a show” of hijacking with the understanding that they would be able to live freely in the United States. Full Story
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