Boy sent to jail for bomb threat

Source:Global Times Published: 2013-1-15 23:48:09

A district court has sentenced a 16-year-old boy to 14 months in prison for calling in a fake bomb threat that forced a plane to return to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport mid-flight, Shanghai Changning District People's Court said Tuesday.

The defendant, whom the court called Liu Rui, called an unidentified airline's service hotline on the evening of October 12, 2012, following an argument with his father, according to a press release from the court.

The court said the boy had seen a news report in which someone caused a great deal of chaos by telling an airline that there was a bomb onboard one of its planes.

Liu decided to mimic the event. He chose the flight, which was bound for Chongqing, at random, and told the airline's operator that he had put a bomb on the plane. When the operator told Liu that he could be prosecuted for making such claims, the boy responded that the airline should check out what he said for itself. He then hung up.

The airline did check it out. The airport forced the flight to turn around and return to the airport, where security officers had to rescreen each passenger and piece of luggage. The flight was delayed for more than two hours and didn't land in Chongqing until after midnight.

The court said the prank cost the airline 100,000 yuan ($16,081). Twenty-three fire and medical vehicles and more than 400 personnel were sent to recheck the plane after it landed.

The court said it gave Liu a lenient sentence because he was a minor. A psychological evaluation found that he didn't start misbehaving until after his parents divorced and he had to move in with his father and stepmother in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

Global Times



Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai

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