Three held over false bomb threat at Penang Airport

Police arrested three people, including an Indonesian woman, yesterday for allegedly making a false bomb threat at the Penang International Airport on Aug 9.

Southwest District police chief Supt AA Anbalagan said the 38-year-old woman was arrested at the airport when she arrived from Medan, Indonesia at 9.10pm.

"After arresting the woman, police arrested her 38-year-old boyfriend who was waiting to pick her up at the airport’s arrival area. He is also believed to be involved in the phone call on the bomb threat," he said in George Town today.

The police also arrested a 22-year-old man in Jitra, Kedah, who is a friend of the boyfriend.

He said investigations found that the mobile phone number used for the bomb threat was registered under the Indonesian woman's name but it was used by her boyfriend.

Anbalagan said the two men were sending the Indonesian woman to the Penang airport on Aug 9 when the couple got into a misunderstanding.

"To prevent his girlfriend from returning to Medan, her boyfriend sought the help of his friend to make the false bomb threat in the hope of disrupting the flight schedule to Medan," he said.

Anbalagan said the friend admitted to making the bomb threat but it was based on personal issues and there were no other criminal elements.

He said police with the tracker dog unit had not detected any bombs or dangerous objects during an inspection in the airport area.

"The woman’s boyfriend has five criminal records while the other man has one criminal record. The three of them are now in remand," he said.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation.

- Bernama