To catch his Morocco flight, a man calls police to make fake bomb threat

In an attempt to catch his flight to Morocco, a British man called the police to make fake bomb threat. Rashidul Islam, 32, was sentenced, Friday, to 16 months in prison and banned from the Gatwick airport for the 999 call he made in May 2019.

According to the Guardian, Islam was supposed to fly to Marrakech to visit his fiancée. After he realized that he was running late for his flight, scheduled for 5.40 pm, he decided to call the police and make them delay the flight, claiming that there is a bomb on the plane.

«EasyJet flight 8897 leaves in 40 minutes», he told the police, adding that «there may be a bomb on the plane, you need to delay it, you need to stop it now».

After airport security evacuated the aircraft and its 147 passengers, Islam arrived at the airport and checked in. The police noticed that Islam’s phone number was the same as the one used to warn against the fake threat.

The man was arrested «on suspicion of making a bomb hoax», the same source said, adding that he admitted «his scheme to the police».

«Making a false report of a bomb on a plane not only causes significant costs and delays to the airport and its passengers, it also strikes fear into the community», Detective Constable Stephen Trott said.

While in prison, Islam has been sentenced to 42 months in prison for «unconnected money laundering offences», the Guardian concluded.