A man has been arrested after he tried to gain entry to an aircraft at the Guam International Airport on Sunday.
According to initial reports, on Sunday at around 10:23 am, 42-year-old Jay John Joe Cruz scaled the airport fence near the old commuter airport and attempted to board an aircraft that was being prepped for departure to Narita.
GIAA Executive Manager John Quinata shares that Cruz almost entered the aircraft but didn’t catch the flight.
(NOTE: Clip says John Quinata’s designation as Deputy Director. Article and text corrected to reflect GIAA Executive Manager)
“However, one of the A.S.A ground agents noticed that this individual was out of place and thereby challenged him for his badge. When he found out he was not badged, they went ahead and called airport police and airport police apprehended him and took him into custody,” Quinata said.
Cruz was arrested and charged with criminal trespass. The investigation into the incident continues as the Guam Airport Police and the FBI are looking into the incident.
As for Cruz’s motive, Quinata said: “The only response that we got was that the individual wanted to leave the island. But also, and through the initial investigation, the individual was under the influence of something. From the initial report that I got there was no resistance. However, they observed that the individual was not in the right state of mind.”
Following protocols, airport police conducted a walk through of the area and the aircraft with a K-9 officer.
“We wanted to make sure that there were no explosives that were left behind or anything that would harm the operations of the airport. And the location where the man breached the fence … we secured the area and removed anything that might have helped him breach the fence,” Quinata said.
He added: “We also went through all the other areas of the airport to make sure that if there’s anything that can be used by individuals or other folks to scale the fence … that we have removed them.”
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