Plane Hijacker Held After 40 Years On The Run

An American murderer who escaped prison and hijacked an airliner while dressed as a priest has been tracked down by police - after more than 40 years on the run.

George Wright, 68, was arrested near Lisbon by Portuguese police at the request of the US government.

Neighbours said he had a wife and two children and worked odd jobs around the hamlet of Almocageme.

He was found thanks to a sudden breakthrough in the case when his fingerprint was matched to a resident ID card.

The fugitive, who is now said to speak fluent Portuguese, escaped from jail in New Jersey in 1970 after he had been convicted of the 1962 murder of a petrol station owner during a robbery.

The FBI said he became linked to an underground militant group called the Black Liberation Army and lived in a "communal family" with other members in Detroit.

In July 1971, he dressed as a priest, used the alias Rev L Burgess, and managed to hijack a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Miami accompanied by men, women and children from his group.

Landing at Miami airport, they demanded a \$1m (£639,000) ransom to free all 86 people on board. All were released when the FBI delivered the cash.

The hijackers then forced the plane to Boston and onto Algeria, where they sought asylum. They were allowed to stay but eventually made their way to France, where Wright's accomplices were arrested and convicted.

However, Wright remained a fugitive until a new US task force began investigating the reopened case nine years ago.

Investigators were planning to look at Portugal as a possible escape route when his name was flagged up by checks on the country's national ID database.

He was arrested after a stake-out at his home and now faces extradition to the US.