Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

3. Anything that may be partially on the hijacker and partially left in the cab, such as matchbooks, will not be left behind by the professional hijacker.

4. Shoe and heel prints. Of course some hijackers may be aware that cartons found in the body of the truck will have to be stepped on and climbed over. Additionally, in the haste of unloading and ripping open cartons to reveal merchandise and reload it, many times heel and shoe prints will be left on cartons. The experienced hijacker will destroy these cartons at a different site or burn the trailer with the cartons on site after the load is transferred.

5. The distance traveled. By estimating the distance in which the truck has traveled, clues can be obtained by detectives in regard to the neighborhood of the drop. The odometer reading can be taken and compared to the mileage recorded when the tank was last filled with gas. The amount of gasoline in the truck is a good indication of the upper limit of the radius of the operation. Some experienced hijackers have been known to drain the tank completely of gasoline, which is very easy to do simply by using a hose as a syphon. Sometimes hijackers will disembowel the internal components of an odometer to make the actual mileage traveled impossible to detect.

6. The top of the cab. The New York City Safe, Loft and Truck Squad initiated an operational procedure many years ago to paint the top of the cab with numbers. In case the truck was hijacked it could be easily observed by helicopters. Of course the top of the cab is usually huge and the numbers are painted as large as possible. When we are dealing with hijackings that are well-planned and well-organized, the fingerman will have all of the information of the truck, so the hijackers come prepared with paint to match the top of the cab.

7. Informants. Criminals know as well as the police that warehouse employees, former criminals, gas station attendants, and self-service or road service people are frequently interviewed to determine if they can ascertain the location and descriptions of people that participated in the hijacking.

Skyjacking

Skyjacking is the most dramatic and highly visible form of terrorism even though it is not the most frequently employed. Skyjacking illustrates perfectly all of the elements of terrorist crimes and so is perhaps the most useful of examples. It is also the form of terrorism that presents the most personal risk to American citizens.

Approximately thirty years have passed since skyjacking became a familiar word to the American public. Today the crime remains the same but the stakes are far higher, for skyjacking is a weapon of terror turned against America.

It threatens not only those who might find themselves on a hostage plane, but all of us who are concerned with the future of our nation.

The Sky Marshal Program was proposed by President Nixon in October 1970 and was one part of the United States government's response to the threat of skyjacking in general and to Palestinian skyjackings in particular. The other part of this deterrence program was the widespread installation of metal detectors in airports and the introduction of passenger and baggage searches. Congress appropriated the funds and the airlines budgeted hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the program.

You wouldn't exactly call the Sky Marshals' job an enviable one. Presumably the attractions of the job include travel to exotic and faraway places, independent work free from supervision, and carrying a gun legally. The dangers of the job outweigh these benefits, however.

Today's skyjacker does not fit into any one mold or physical description. Skyjacking is a violent means of getting a free ride and gratifying a need at the expense of other people. Of course the skyjacker is seldom a thief, however, he may be a malcontent, a dropout from everyday life, a political fanatic, a rebel with or without a cause, or an emotional disaster; he may be literate or illiterate, college-educated or have just barely finished the third grade. He may have long hair or a crewcut. He may wear expensive suits or cheap ones. He may be a cool, intellectual professional or a whimpering coward. Either way, there is no single pattern to skyjackings or skyjackers.

Some skyjack cases bear close relationships to others while others are unique. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the airlines, have psychologists who have been trying to develop a profile of skyjackers for years. It is they who first conducted interviews with what we might call "deactivated" skyjackers —those who failed or who returned home after discovering that there was no haven for them at the end of the line. They also interviewed families of skyjackers who did not return. It was on the basis of this extensive research that the behavioral profile of a skyjacker was devised. However, this profile has been criticized for a number of reasons, among them that it is too broad and based only on American skyjackers and does not have universal applications.

Why Skyjack?

Why of all things would you want to grab an airplane? Psychologists have offered different reasons about symbolism and flight and the power of commandeering but to us there is one basic reason: Because the plane happens to be there. Skyjacking is one of the current forms of protest. It is our opinion that skyjackers fall into five, sometimes overlapping, categories: criminals on the run; individuals with personal or political reasons; people or groups with organized political motivations; emotional disaster cases; losers and misfits.

Now, based on these groupings let's take a closer look at the types of skyjackers and how they operate.

Categories off Skyjackers

It has been said that skyjacking has evolved during the last fifty years into the following divisions:

1. Escaping refugees, 1947-1952, 1958-1972, 1980s

2. Transportation, 1961-1994

3. The mentally unbalanced, 1961-1994

4. Political terrorists, 1968-1988

5. Escaping criminals, 1971-1973

6. Extortion, 1971-1973, 1975-1977

7. Religious fundamentalists, 1983-1988

8. Bomb saboteurs, 1984-1994

Escaping Refugees. The escaping refugee skyjacker will seize an aircraft to flee from an oppressive political regime. Under international law,