The World : 2 Arrested in Hijack Plot

East German authorities arrested two people carrying diplomatic passports from a Middle Eastern country who planned to hijack a U.S. airliner in West Berlin. The action was intended as a gesture of support for Shia Muslim terrorists who commandeered a TWA jetliner June 14 and held 39 Americans hostage, sources in the West Berlin Senate said. The sources said East German security agents, acting on a tip, arrested the two at East Berlin’s Schoenefeld airport and found explosives in their bags. The West Berlin Tagesspiegel newspaper said the two were deported “out of consideration” for East Germany’s relations with the unidentified Middle East country.