Former commercial pilot Shaheer Cassim admits guilt in B.C. plane hijacking

By Canadian Press on April 8, 2026.

RICHMOND — Federal prosecutors say a British Columbia man has pleaded guilty to two terrorism offences after he stole a small plane on Vancouver Island last July, triggering a security incident at Vancouver airport that spurred Norad to scramble fighter jets.

The Public Prosecution Services of Canada says Shaheer Cassim pleaded guilty in a Richmond, B.C., court on Tuesday of charges of hijacking an aircraft and interfering with the operation of Vancouver International Airport.

The service says the charges “also constitute terrorist activities,” according to Canada’s Criminal Code, and Cassim is due back in court at the end of May to schedule a sentencing hearing.

Cassim posted on social media the day before the hijacking that he was a “messenger of Allah” sent to save humanity from climate change, and police said at the time that the accused had an “ideological motive”

Images posted on social media captured the moments of Cassim’s arrest on a runway at the airport after he landed the Cessna aircraft, which had been taken from the Victoria Flying Club in Sidney, B.C.

Cassim was once employed by a small airline on Vancouver Island called KD Air, and former owners Diana and Lars Banke, said in an interview at the time that Cassim was a highly intelligent and talented pilot who believed the world was coming to an end.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.

The Canadian Press

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