Police are questioning a 60 year-old UK man after a bomb threat was made on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight this afternoon.
Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft and the plane stood on the tarmac while the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) searched passengers’ baggage.
The MNDF eventually gave the all clear and the plane commenced its flight to London without major disruption.
Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that the UK man, reported in local press as ‘Clement Paul’, had been handed over to police by the MNDF for questioning “but is not legally under arrest.”
MNDF Spokesperson Major Abdul Raheem earlier told Minivan News that a bomb threat was received by the control tower after a passenger on the aircraft declared there was a bomb on board.
“We checked the entire aircraft and there was no bomb,” he said, adding that the aircraft was soon given the all clear.
An airport official told Minivan News that the MNDF had searched passenger baggage on the airline, but added that there were no disruptions to service and no flights were delayed.
The Sri Lankan Airlines flight took off from Colombo on Monday afternoon and was scheduled to fly to London with 199 passengers.
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This passenger would most certainly have been sent to prison if this had happened in the UK...
Maybe a coordinated plan to cause fear among Maldivians so that India could easily take over Maldives in the name of protecting us.
jews. definitely jews.
If this happened in UK, his name would have been Muhammad...Opne your eyes for Western terrorism...i ll be surprised not to findout that he is actually a "psychiatric patient"
More than likely drunk!! Deserves all he gets..
Here we go again. time to look for a scapegoat.
Who is it this time? Jews? Christians? Buddhists? Athiests? Mullahs? Yellow fin tuna?
if they are in a Muslim country,non-Muslim westerners think they are always besieged by terrorists and are always afraid of death.
beware! most psychopathic serial killers are non-Muslim westerners.
@Sato Why blame India?Who need your country? BTW India never wanted to invade a neighboring country. We want Peace
wow. landing in maldives must have really scared him. his paranoia is understandable though. the idea of a little brown hairy akhamad in salwar kameez and a towel on his head must have crossed his mind. probably this clement paul is a regular reader of the yamyn rasheed, simon et al blogs...
One might stretch one's imagination to include the possibility that this was a ruse to test the capabilities and SOPs of the MNDF for strengths and weaknesses, in cases of bomb threats.
Now anyone with an analytical mind can attempt to pull off a successful explosion based on that information. 😛
Not legally under arrest???
What if he claims for USD 6.4 Million like the Oil Thief???
MNDF,
A little desperate, sir? 😉
Had you read beyond the headline, you'd have learnt this plane wasn't 'landing' at all, but was in fact departing to London.
Not that it would have made your silly allegations any more redeemable.
I still get the feeling that someday, after a few more Sultan-Park bombings, maybe a Mumbai-style raid on a resort, or whatever it is that the mullah says "true Muslims" need to do, you'll still blame my blog and Simon's blog for the consequences.
Have heard of a bad workman blaming his tools, but never yet of an ugly person blaming his mirror.
The incident tested how prepared Maldives is for such a situation.
"It was a case of miscommunication between the elderly British passenger and the airline crew," Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told AFP by telephone from the capital Male.
He said the passenger had alerted the crew to a "disturbance in the plane" and the crew had thought he was raising a bomb scare."
So, that is okay then? I am not sure how any confusion could arise over the alleged comment. And, hey, I am 60 this year and I am NOT elderly!
#
@Larry[geordie]Dodds
"More than likely drunk!! Deserves all he gets.."
Maybe he was not! Read passenger reviews re Emirates cabin crew and all may be explained.
This could have been international news if the false alarmer was an asian, a muslim or a Maldivian.
Tamils or the Indians definitely them they have a tealy anger with Sri lanka