A worker moves luggage trolleys outside Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
7/17/2025
A man arrested for an alleged plane hijacking at the Vancouver International Airport earlier this week took to social media the day before to declare himself a “messenger of Allah” tasked with rescuing humanity from climate change.
The RCMP have charged Shaheer Cassim, 39, with one count of hijacking after the incident on July 15 that saw Norad scramble F-15 fighter jets to respond to a Cessna 172 circling at a low altitude in the airspace above the airport. The plane landed safely before the jets could arrive on scene.
Police say the suspect had an “ideological motive” and is thought to have commandeered the plane at Victoria International Airport by threatening a flight instructor, before subsequently flying to Vancouver.
Images posted on social media showing the arrest of the Cessna’s pilot on the north runway of the Vancouver airport feature a bearded man who resembles the photo of the Facebook profile of a man by the same name as the suspect.
A post on the Facebook page on the evening of July 14 says the angel Gabriel had appeared to Cassim with a message from Allah.
“I am a messenger of Allah,” Cassim wrote. “I am the messiah sent to save humanity from climate change and usher in an era of world peace.”
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He said the Arctic sea ice would disappear within two years, triggering “abrupt runaway global warming” that would cause human extinction within “the first few years.”
Cassim held a press conference in Victoria in 2012 at the start of a cross-country bicycle trek to raise awareness about global warming and identified himself at that time as a commercial airline pilot.
His Facebook profile indicates he was employed from 2008 to 2010 by KD Air, a small Vancouver Island airline no longer in operation. It also indicates he attended high school in Lloydminster, Alta., before studying aviation at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Cassim described himself in his July 14 post as the editor of a blog focused on the effects of climate change in the Arctic. The blog features hundreds of entries dating back to 2011. The latest entry, made over the weekend, was titled: “Will humans go extinct soon?”
Security Incident
Landings at Vancouver International (YVR) were suspended for more than half an hour during the afternoon of July 15 as the pilot of the Cessna 172 flew in low altitude circles in the airspace above the airport.
The aircraft departed shortly before 1 p.m. from Victoria airport, and flight radar indicates it flew directly to Vancouver’s airport before circling for approximately 25 minutes.
Police said it landed at approximately 1:45 p.m., and videos circulating on social media depict police vehicles converging on the taxiing plane, before a bearded pilot exited and walked backward toward officers who had their weapons aimed at him.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Melissa Lui told The Epoch Times that Richmond RCMP, the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Service, the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team, and RCMP Air Services responded to the incident.
She noted that the suspect was arrested by RCMP officers without incident.
North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) confirmed on July 16 it scrambled F-15 fighter jets in response to the alleged hijacking.
The RCMP has not provided any information about a possible motive, but recorded dialogue featuring a Vancouver air traffic controller indicates the alleged hijacking might have been driven by some form of protest.
The situation prompted what the Vancouver airport referred to as a 39-minute “ground stop” for incoming flights.
Vancouver air-traffic control initially reported a “rogue aircraft” just after 1 p.m. on July 15, requesting nearby aircraft to watch for the Cessna and to inform controllers of any need to “manoeuvre as necessary.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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