A Hong Kong man was arrested over the weekend after he called in three bomb threats in one hour to stop his girlfriend’s flight from taking off.
At 4pm on Saturday, a man called 999 to say that there was a bomb at Hong Kong International Airport, Apple Daily reports. Police conducted a search, but no explosives were found. The same man reportedly called back 40 minutes later from a different number to say there was a bomb at the airport, but a second search by the police yielded no results.
In a third call, made 10 minutes later from yet another number, the man insisted there was still a bomb at the airport, and alleged that there was even an explosive on one of the aircrafts. Police deployed multiple officers and sniffer dogs to comb the vicinity of the airport, but found nothing.
After tracing the phone numbers used to make the calls and examining airport CCTV footage, officers found the suspect, a 41-year-old man surnamed Lo, at a restaurant in the airport departure hall.
Lo reportedly admitted under police caution that he had been drinking when he made the hoax calls, and was trying to prevent his girlfriend from going away.
According to Apple Daily, the couple got into an argument on Saturday, during which Lo’s girlfriend said she would leave Hong Kong. In an effort to stop her, Lo went to the airport, then called in bomb threats. He used his mobile phone, a phone in one of the airport’s shops, and a pay phone to avoid suspicion.
No flights were affected. Later, Lo’s girlfriend reportedly told police she had no plans to leave Hong Kong.
Lo was arrested on suspicion of making a false bomb threat and wasting police time. Under the Public Order Ordinance, making a false bomb threat is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment on summary conviction, or a HKD150,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment on conviction.
Strangely, this has happened before. Earlier this year, a 64-year-old Hong Kong man was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after calling in a false bomb report to stop his wife from going on holiday.
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Hongkonger called in fake bomb threat to stop wife’s travels
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated.
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