A B.C. man who declared himself a “messenger of Allah” has pleaded guilty to two terrorism charges for the theft of a small aircraft from the Vancouver airport last summer that triggered a security alert and prompted Norad to deploy fighter jets.
Shaheer Cassim pleaded guilty in a Richmond, B.C., court this week on charges of hijacking an aircraft and disrupting operations at Vancouver International Airport, the Public Prosecution Services of Canada has announced.
The charges “also constitute terrorist activities,” under the Criminal Code, the federal prosecutor said.
Cassim was detained at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on July 15, 2025, following a threat made against a flight instructor, during which the instructor’s Cessna 172 was commandeered from the Victoria Flying Club in Sidney, B.C., and flown to Vancouver.
Landings at the Vancouver airport were suspended for 39 minutes, resulting in the diversion of nine aircraft while Cassim piloted the Cessna in low-altitude circles above YVR.
North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) scrambled F-15 fighter jets in response to the security incident, but Cassim, a former commercial pilot, landed the plane safely on a runway at the airport before the jets could arrive on scene.
A Norad spokeswoman previously told The Epoch Times that additional F-18 fighters were also being readied to respond, but the Cessna landed before they could be deployed.
Images and videos circulating on social media at the time of the incident showed police vehicles converging on the taxiing plane. One video captured Cassim exiting the aircraft and walking backward toward officers who had their weapons aimed at him.
Mental Health Issues
Cassim’s attorney previously told the court that his client has a history of serious mental health issues including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He said he has requested a psychiatric report evaluation of his client.The security scare prompted by Cassim at the Vancouver airport came a day after he wrote on Facebook that he was a “messenger of Allah” tasked with rescuing humanity from climate change.
“I am the messiah sent to save humanity from climate change and usher in an era of world peace,” Cassim wrote in a post that has since been removed.
He predicted 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 described himself in the post as the editor of a blog focused on the effects of climate change in the Arctic. The blog featured hundreds of entries dating back to 2011. The last entry, before the plane theft and subsequent security incident was titled: “Will humans go extinct soon?”
Cassim was employed from 2008 to 2010 by KD Air, a small Vancouver Island airline no longer in operation. Former owners Diana and Lars Banke said in an interview at the time that Cassim was an exceptionally intelligent and skilled pilot who held the belief that the world was nearing its end.
Cassim will next appear in court on May 28 to have a date set for his sentencing hearing.
