Macau International Airport carried out the Exercise on the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft at 02:30 this morning, simulating the scenario of a foreign registered aircraft destined to Macao being unlawfully seized by a foreign armed political group. The hijackers demanded the Macao SAR Government to release their group leader who was imprisoned in Macao, pay the ransom and allowed the aircraft to fly back to the point of origin. The hijackers also threatened to kill the passengers and crew members held captive on board.

The Airport Emergency Plan was activated immediately after the Macau International Airport was notified of this crisis. The Public Security Police Force acted as the coordinator and the incident commander of this crisis management. Representatives from all involved entities arrived at the Centre to participate in rescue operations. As instructed by the incident commander, the Judiciary Police held negotiations with the hijackers; the hijackers released some of the hostages; the negotiations reached deadlock and the incident commander eventually instructed the Special Duty Unit of the Public Security Police Force to take immediate attack on the hijackers; the attack was successful and all 20 passengers and 4 crew members were rescued.

The “Airport Security Exercise” is carried out once a year, to test the capacity and enhance the ability of the participants in recognizing and dealing with aviation security emergencies.  The exercise was coordinated by the Public Security Police Force with the participation of other entities including the Unitary Police Force, Macao Customs Services, Judiciary Police, Fire Services Bureau, Health Bureau, Marine and Water Bureau, Civil Aviation Authority, CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd, Air Macau Company Ltd., Macau Security Company Ltd. (airport security) and Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. The exercise was concluded at around 05:00 and achieved its goal. The number of participants was about 300.