Colombian woman hijacks plane, deserts FARC

updated 5:25 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2007

BOGOTA, Colombia - An armed woman hijacked a small plane to escape the ranks of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group and rejoin civilian life, police said.

Police said the woman, identified only by her alias “Angelica,” took over the plane Thursday at an airstrip in Puerto Principe in eastern Colombia and forced its pilot to fly her two hours west to the city of Villavicencio.

Once there she handed over a Galil assault rifle and told authorities she wished to abandon the ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Bid for a new start
“Her intention from the outset was to run away from the guerrillas and try to restart her life far away from armed combat,” said Col. Pablo Gomez, head of police in the state of Meta where the plane landed.

Television news broadcast images of the woman clad in camouflaged cargo pants being treated by medical professionals.

Gomez said she was being interviewed to determine her legal status. Special amnesty laws cover armed combatants in Colombia’s half-century civil conflict who willingly disarm.

It was not clear whether she would face criminal charges for the alleged hijacking.

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