The man accused of hijacking a plane and triggering a security scare at Vancouver International Airport last week faces a second charge related to the rogue flight.
B.C. online court records say a charge of damaging or interfering with a navigation system was sworn Friday against Shaheer Cassim.
Cassim was arrested July 15 after allegedly threatening a flight instructor at Victoria International Airport, seizing control of a Cessna, then circling the plane over Vancouver’s airport before landing and being arrested by police.
Police say the 39-year-old had an “ideological motive to disrupt airspace” and announced a charge of hijacking the day after the flight.
Both charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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Cassim is a former commercial airline pilot who posted on social media the day before the airport security scare that he was a “messenger of Allah” sent to save humanity from catastrophic climate change.
Cassim is expected to appear in Provincial Court in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday.
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