A year ago today, Malta took centre stage in a hijack drama involving an Afriqiyah Airways plane carrying 111 passengers. Following a four-hour standoff, the two Libyan hijackers surrendered, one of them waving the defunct green Libyan flag.

Many heaved a sigh of relief after all those on board emerged unscathed – unlike in the 1985 Egyptair hijack, which ended with the massacre of 62 people.

This sentiment quickly faded when it emerged that the hijackers, who at one point threatened to blow up the plane in mid-air, had bluffed using replica guns and fake explosives.

Nonetheless, on Christmas Day, Moussa Shaha Ali Sako and Ali Ahmed Lano Saleh were charged before a Maltese court amid tight security, which was branded by many commentators as a show of force by the police.

One year later, however, the case has seemingly faded into oblivion, even though proceedings are still ongoing. Meanwhile, the two defendants are still in preventive custody.

Doubts about the real intentions behind this hijack continued to emerge during the compilation of evidence, in which the crew took the witness stand.

From their testimony, it transpired that the hijackers seemed more intent on getting out of Libya than anything else.

The two men had taken control of the plane during flight 209 from Sabha to Tripoli and had initially ordered the pilot to go to Rome or they would blow up the plane. However, they were easily persuaded to change plans and land in Malta after the captain told them there was not sufficient fuel to head to Rome. The most striking account was that given by one of the air hostesses, who described one of the hijackers, Mr Sako, as “rather stupid” and unfamiliar with the plane’s layout.

That impression was formed during an exchange with him, in which the hostess even cracked jokes in an effort to keep him calm, the court heard.

At one point, he asked her if she had a Facebook account and suggested they take a selfie. The member of the crew testified that she had accepted and eventually took a picture with both hijackers after landing in Malta.

Furthermore, the hijackers had confided to her his concern about the situation in Libya, as well his intentions to set up a political party and leave the country.

Following this testimony given in January of last year, interest in the highjacking subsided, though the two defendants could be sentenced to life imprisonment.