Arms Came Aboard in Iran, Ex-Hostages Say : Arafat Claims Tehran Engineered Hijacking

At least one hijacker boarded a commandeered Kuwaiti jumbo jet in Iran, bringing along explosives and machine guns, several of the hostages released from the plane in Cyprus said Wednesday.

At the same time, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, who has been trying to secure the release of the remaining hostages, was quoted as accusing Iran of masterminding the nine-day hijacking.

Iran, the first country to which the hijackers flew after taking over the Kuwait Airways Boeing 747 last Tuesday, has denied it had anything to do with the hijacking.

However, a number of diplomats in the region said there is growing evidence--albeit mostly circumstantial--that the Iranians at least abetted the hijackers, even if they did not plan the deed itself.

Arafat said Wednesday that he has been in touch with the hijackers’ leaders in an effort to win the release of the hostages, 32 of whom are still on board the hijacked plane, now in Algiers. He said the leaders were not on board the plane but were in radio contact with the hijackers.

Interviewed by Cable News Network, Arafat was asked who was involved in the hijacking.

“Some of them are Lebanese, and some of them belong to the Iranian government,” he was quoted as replying. “According to my best information, they (the Iranians) are behind the whole operation.”

Iran Considered Suspect

Several Western and Arab diplomats in the region, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added that they considered it extremely likely that Iran, or some faction within Iran, was behind the hijacking.

And although the diplomats conceded that they had no hard evidence, their conviction was strengthed by the testimony of the freed hostages themselves. Several of the former captives said that more hijackers and heavier arms suddenly appeared on the hijacked plane after it landed at Mashhad airport in northeastern Iran.

“I believe they changed teams in Iran, bringing in more weapons, ropes and explosives. We saw them after Iran, not before,” said Mohammed Ramadan Ali, a dual U.S.-Egyptian national who hid his American passport from the hijackers and said he lived in constant terror of their finding it.

Pillow-Case Masks

The hostages said the terrorists all wore masks made from pillow cases and never appeared together at any one time. Thus, they were uncertain as to the exact number of hijackers on the plane, either before or after it landed in Iran, where it spent three days on the ground before flying to Larnaca, Cyprus.

However, they all said the terrorists brandished only pistols and grenades when they hijacked the plane after it left Bangkok en route to Kuwait. Only after leaving Iran, they said, were the hijackers carrying machine guns, explosives and other bulky equipment that would have been extremely difficult to smuggle on board the plane in Bangkok.

“The hijackers were six at first, but in Mashhad I think they became seven,” said Adnan Rashi Majiki, one of five Egyptian passengers released in Larnaca.

Mohammed Ashkanani, a Kuwait Airways employee, said he saw two hijackers board the plane in Iran. Six terrorists hijacked the aircraft when it left Bangkok early Tuesday, but eight were in command of the craft when it left Iran last Friday, he said.

Shia With Iranian Ties

A Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Qabas, reported today that Imad Fayez Mughniya, a Lebanese Shia Muslim militant known to have close ties to Iran, boarded the plane in Mashhad with another man to help direct the less experienced terrorist team already on board.

Mughniya, suspected of involvement in at least one previous hijacking, is related by marriage to one of the 17 Shia Muslim terrorists whose release from Kuwaiti jails the hijackers are demanding.

Although other hostages said they were unsure if more hijackers boarded the plane in Iran, all agreed that the arsenal of weapons carried by the terrorists appeared to be much larger when they left Iran.

“We saw all kinds of arms . . . automatic rifles, grenades and pistols,” said Sharif Badrawi, an airline ticketing agent from Cairo.

‘Very Professional’

The hostages also agreed that the terrorists “were very organized and very professional in their business,” said Ali, the U.S.-Egyptian national.

Although some of the passengers agreed to be quoted by name, others pleaded for anonymity. Several appeared nervous with reporters.

“They told us before we left the plane that they can get us anytime, anywhere,” Ali said.

Some passengers said that, while the hijackers were “kind” to them, they also knew how to keep their hostages in a constant state of disorientation.

The passengers said they were confined to their seats with their hands bound and their seat belts tied tightly into knots for the entire ordeal. They were kept together in the center of the plane, but each was separated by several empty seats to prevent anyone from talking to anyone else.

Shades Pulled Down

The window shades were pulled down, and “we didn’t know if it was day or night,” said Ali, who added that until they were freed, the passengers had no idea that they had been in Iran or that they were in Cyprus.

Ali said the hijackers went through the plane, seeking out Americans or anyone who had been to the United States.

“Fortunately, I had taken my other (Egyptian) passport with me, and I gave them that,” Ali said. “I kept my U.S. passport hidden in my briefcase . . . but I was terrified that they would find it and that I would be the first to be shot.”

Unaware of Deaths

Two hostages, both Kuwaitis, were shot to death by the terrorists in Cyprus when their demand for fuel was not met. None of the freed passengers, however, were aware that anyone had been killed, which suggests that the victims were shot with a silencer-equipped pistol.

All of the passengers, however, said they feared for their lives.

“I always feared we were going to die,” Ashkanani said. “But I prayed to Allah to save us. I prayed all the time to see my family again.

“When I got off that plane,” he added, “I felt that I was born again.”