The crash of a Chinese flight at Mieni around Halloween was one of the last things that anyone in law enforcement would have expected, and the fact that it was the result of a small team of Chilean hijackers only made things more bizarre. For while global trade had over the years brought large parts of the world together in many ways, it was not thought that there would be reason for people from Chile to hijack a plane going from Hong Kong to Tokyo and then crash it near Mieni, well away from where the plane was supposed to go and beyond the range with which it could go without refueling. And it drew law enforcement agencies trying to connect the dots and the pieces from what had happened. It took some time to arrange, as Mieni, like many Animalian colonies had strong Covid related restrictions, but it was managed.
Interpol sent a couple of agents as part of a means to coordinate the entire investigation, while the Chinese sent a couple of agents to participate in covering their interests since most of the victims of the hijacking where Chinese. The Republic of the Marshall Islands sent a couple of agents to represent local interests, since Mieni Atoll was officially grouped within that Pacific Islander nation/state. The last of the groups filling out the international investigation were representatives from Chile, who arrived with as much surprise as anyone else had presented with the entire situation. Though it was hoped as they and Gaz met in a conference room that was part of the air control tower that some of the mysteries around these hijackers would be solved.
"And you're one of the law enforcement agents here?" the Chinese officer asked to Gaz as the Great White Animalian viewed the group carefully and with some awareness that her size and teeth might be taken as threatening.
"No... my mate and I run the hotel where most of the victims of the plane crash are presently staying," Gaz answered, "thankfully none of them had Covid... but that's a different issue. We simply lent a hand in the rescue and recovery efforts because of what was needed and we were on hand."
"And the flight recorder information was quite helpful," the Interpol agent nodded with small smile, "we know that they didn't take over the flight until after going over the Ryukyus islands and thus turned away... and that whoever they were... they managed to do it in a way that would put them at a point where intercepting them would be difficult..."
"Not that that would work," the Chinese officer grumbled, "their Chinese was rather good, even with a Spanish accent to it... but even if Japan scrambled fighters after it for going off course, it's not like they could have stopped them. A missile to shoot the plane down would likely kill more than the three hijackers themselves."
There were nods of agreement at that among all that were concerned and soon brought all eyes to the Chilean law enforcement official, who gave a small gulp at this. He never expected people from his country to go all the way to China to hijack a plane and yet that was precisely what he'd ended up having happened. It was something that only added to the problems that things like Covid also presented.
"The accent wasn't the issue," the Chinese officer answered, "it was the recording on what they were hijacking the plane for. It was like they were of mixed thoughts on the issue. Like they wanted money from kidnapping the passengers and/or Covid relief..."
"And from the passenger itinerary, the former is possible, the latter, not so much," the Interpol agent commented, "as there were some businessmen of wealth on the plane... but none were scientists or involved with China's Covid vaccine program."
"That would make it seem like these hijackers were not the sharpest of criminals," the Chilean officer commented, "in a variety of reasons. From what you shared with me... and what Ms. Gaz here can say on the design of the plane, if this was a hostage issue... I'm afraid that Chile wouldn't have many hidden areas where they could land the plane and hold them hostage."
"But what about some of the places away from the cities?" Gaz wondered, grateful that all the law enforcement officials that came could speak English. The passengers from the airplane largely spoke Chinese with very little English and they'd had to get someone to come from Heiya Island to act as an interpreter for them.
"There are places that are remote enough to hide in," the Chilean officer answered, "but not land a plane at... particularly a plane like the one that had been hijacked."
"It would be like trying to land a massive airliner on the old World War 2 era airstrip here on Mieni," the Marshall Islands officer explained to Gaz, "the old airstrip... while you've done a lot to upgrade it simply wouldn't be long enough to safely land such a plane, and why Horizon paid for the construction of the larger airstrip that could also function as a dock for the cruise liners during your tourist season."
"And as such... given news travel and communication, when they landed at any air port in Chile... there would have been law enforcement waiting for them," the Chilean officer finished, "and if they went anywhere else... or risked a crash landing... they risked losing out on any money they might have made with the ransom. Thus why I say they weren't the smartest of crooks."
Gaz blinked for a moment and then nodded. She then looked over to the Interpol agent who remained focused on the Chilean officer who had flown out to Mieni as the group tried to piece together the information to try and explain what had happened that had lead to the plane crash. They had some ideas as to why the attempt might have been made, though they wouldn't be able to confirm how successful the attempt really would have been or how large of a scheme it was. Mieni had been lucky to have avoided being hit by the plane and Animalia as a whole had been rather lucky that criminal related issues that had hit Animalia or its colonies had ultimately proven to either be small or isolated to a particular individual and not wide spread. What had been found out so far on the plane crash was something that could be bigger, simply because of how out of the blue it had been and how big of a incident it was.
"Smart or not... we still need to know who they are," the Chinese officer spoke, "we believe the names given on their tickets to be fake as they all seem to be a sort of "joke name," like John Doe or IP Daily. And that would go a long way as to knowing if they were alone in this..."
"And the Animalians did recover the bodies from the plane before they got the flight recorders," the Interpol agent said in agreement, "you should have the photos... if we can know who they are... we might be able to figure out if they were alone or operating under something bigger."
The Chilean officer nodded and looked down at the three photos that were on the desk before him. They had come in with the official request from Interpol regarding the plane crash and setting up the conference on Mieni in the first place. It let him know what the hijackers looked like, and while the photos were great, there was enough that was clear for him to run it through the various networks that Chile had available to its own resources. It wasn't as quick as some of the more high tech facial recognition images would get, but he was reasonably confident he had the identities of the three hijackers.
"Well... I don't think there should be much risk of there being any major organization behind these three," the Chilean officer laid out the three photos and then pointed to each, "all three have no known criminal record or involvement with any organized criminal group. The best I could say is that they've had contacts in the business world, but none of it good..."
"They've had shady business dealings?" the Interpol agent wondered.
"More that their business dealings have all failed," the Chilean officer explained, "their leader... a Juan Lapazz has applied for loans for a business that would make yarn from the wool from sheep or llamas, but has had no connection to any supplier of wool. The second, a Martino Ruiz, has had some computer repair ventures, but has seemed to work with rather slow service that most of his customers ultimately bought NEW computers rather than wait for him to figure out the problem and wouldn't pay because of how long it took to fix the problem."
"So... they're just bad businessmen?" Gaz asked, "How would you get records of them?"
"It's not so much records as it would be essentially publishing the pictures and asking if anyone recognizing them," the Chilean officer answered, "and there we managed to get lucky that members of their family did recognize them. And they informed our police forces and agencies on who they were. I only even heard on their names and connections a day or so before my flight for Mieni was scheduled to leave for this conference."
"And the third man?" the Chinese officer asked.
"It would appear that he was the only one of the three that actually still had a job," the Chilean officer answered, "He is Manual Pino and has worked for a travel company that has specialized in connections between Chile and other nations that touch the Pacific... apparently including Japan, China, the Philippines, Australia, and supposedly was supposed to be adding Mieni when Covid 19 hit Chile earlier this year and the agency's staff caught Covid ran into difficulty with passing the health restrictions the various Animalian colonies passed. The company told me his last assignment was a sort of fact finding mission intended to find out what could be done on various health, safety, and tourist issues going forward."
"Likely looking to try and get things jumpstarted as a result of the damage the global pandemic has caused," Gaz guessed.
"And was used by the other two," the Chilean officer spoke, "to cover up their failed business ventures or in connection with them..."
"It might be that Covid might be the only REAL connection," the Interpol agent commented, "that disease has hit everyone in some way. And some of the recordings sound like they either had some motivation related to it... thus they may have lost someone to it, lost money because of it, or lost business to it, and thus made a series of poor choices because of it."
"And because the three of them were the ones that died in the crash," the Chilean officer spoke, "I don't think we're going to get too much that would con on their exact motivations or anything else... I'm sorry."
"At least only the hijackers died in this," Gaz spoke "and the rest didn't have Covid and there were no serious injuries. Most should be able to return home now and those that are injured from the crash should be safe to return home soon."
"Thankfully," the Chinese officer said slowly, "It's seemed like this pandemic had made everyone crazy to some degree... and hopefully things will get better soon."