An airport in eastern Malaysia got a bomb threat Thursday, causing the delay of an AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur for six hours, but it turned out tobe a hoax.
The Kuching International Airport in Sarawak state received a telephone call from a man at 8:40 a.m. local time (0040 GMT), claiming there was an explosive liquid on board an aircraft bound for Kuala Lumpur.
Emergency operation procedures were then activated by Malaysia Airport, the police, Fire and Rescue Department and Department of Civil Aviation, according to reports of the Bernama news agency.
There were two scheduled flights to the capital city Thursday morning, namely, one of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and the other of AirAsia.
The MAS MH2713 flight was checked and took off at 9.05 a.m.(0105 GMT) as scheduled.
However, the AirAsia plane was towed 100 meters from the terminal building and underwent a comprehensive inspection after the passengers had disembarked.
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Police warn of hallucinogenic chocolate bars at Amsterdam airport
THE HAGUE, Aug 17, 2006 (UNI)
Police at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Thursday released a warning for hallucinogenic dark chocolate bars after a homeless man ate one and confused their uniforms with wedding dresses.
‘‘He ate some and we found him hallucinating’’, mixing up police uniforms with wedding dresses, police spokesman Rob Stenacker said.
‘‘Several days later he brought us another bar that he had just found and we passed it on to the forensic institute’’ of the Netherlands, he said.
Tests showed the 72 percent cocoa dark chocolate contained psilocine, a mind-altering substance found in hallucinogenic mushrooms and considered to be a hard drug.
Police later found more chocolate bars on the ground and in airport dustbins.
‘‘They were very likely bought in the Netherlands and abandoned at the airport by travellers who didn’t dare to take them on board (the plane),’’ Stenacker said.
Police warned the public to be careful if they found any abandoned dark chocolate: ‘‘Don’t eat it, you don’t know what’s in it. Imagine what would happen if a child ate it.’’
The sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms is tolerated in the Netherlands in so-called ‘‘smartshops’’ but it is forbidden to turn them into other food products.
Police are also looking into the angle of terrorism to see if this was a plot to drug security and smuggle in explosives.
Police give all-clear after searching aircraft at Sydney airport
CANBERRA, Aug. 17 (UNI)
Police at Australia’s Sydney airport have given the all-clear after fully examining an aircraft arriving from Fiji Thursday amid a threat that something suspicious might be on board.
Emergency services personnel and airport authorities searched the Boeing 737 aircraft, after receiving a call suggesting that a ‘‘suspicious device’’ might be on board.
Police said nothing was found during the two-hour extensive searching.
‘‘Police received unconfirmed reports earlier today that a suspicious device was on board the plane,’’ a NSW (state of New South Wales of which Sydney is the capital) police spokesman said.
‘‘Following an extensive search, nil items were found and the all-clear was given at 7:45 p.m. (Australian Eastern time, 0945 GMT),’’ she said.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio quoted a spokeswoman of Virgin Blue, one of Australia’s major airliners, as saying that the call was received shortly before the flight from Fiji was due to land in Sydney Thursday afternoon.
She said the threat was taken seriously, and the 100 passengerson board the flight were evacuated from the aircraft after the flight landed in Sydney.
The source of the alleged threat was unclear. The Seven television network reported it had been made by telephone from the Philippines.
Chief Superintendent Andres Caro, head of the police Aviation Security Group in the Philippines, said he was not aware of a threat being made against the plane.
Passenger Daniela Psiender, of Sydney, said those on board the plane had been separated into two groups after being taken off the flight and that her group was held as search dogs — a standard security measure at Sydney airport — looked over the group. They were then allowed to go.
Charter flight triggers terror alert at NATO base in Poland
WARSAW, Poland, Aug 18 (UNI)
A planeload of Polish tourists got a fright when their Turkish pilot mistakenly landed at a NATO air base, sparking a terrorist alert, officials said Thursday.
The pilot of the chartered plane disregarded instructions from air traffic controllers and touched down at the Krzesiny base near Poznan late Wednesday instead of at the city’s Lawica airport, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) away.
Slawomir Orlowski, a spokesman for the military airport, said the unexpected landing triggered an anti-terror procedure, with troops scrambling to surround the aircraft.
Anti-terrorist police moved in to check the crew and the passengers, he said. Three hours later, the plane was allowed to fly to the civilian airport for regular arrival procedure.
‘‘The people were under great stress because the crew was not able to communicate to them what was going on,’’ Orlowski said. ‘‘The pilot’s English was not very good.’’
He said the plane flew over the lit runway at Lawica and began turning around to begin its approach ‘‘but on its way it saw the unlit runway of Krzesiny and the pilot sat the plane down there.’’
Control towers at both airports were telling the pilot she had chosen the wrong airport, but she was flying low and went ahead with the landing, Orlowski said.
Warsaw airport spokesman Artur Burak also said the pilot of the plane, which had taken off from Antalya in Turkey, was at fault.
‘‘The air traffic controller informed the pilot that she was making a mistake and that she should change her flight (route), but she didn’t and she landed at the other airport,’’ Burak said. ‘‘It was the pilot’s mistake.’’
Vietnam Airlines delayed a domestic flight Friday after a passenger joked there was a bomb in his luggage, which was actually stuffed with cash, a company spokesman said Saturday.
‘‘The 149 passengers including some foreigners on board the flight between Hanoi and Cam Ranh Friday morning had to leave the plane after the passenger joked he had a bomb in his luggage,’’ Nguyen Chan told AFP.
An air hostess had raised the alarm after hearing Nguyen Thai Son, 33, telling another passenger his luggage was very big because of a bomb.
Security officials failed to find any explosives but discovered a lot of Vietnamese currency the passenger was carrying for a working trip. He was detained for further investigations.
‘‘It is a severe incident and we will ask for a tough punishment,’’ Chan said. According to Vietnamese law, anyone obstructing air traffic faces a possible jail term of between one and five years.
A similar incident happened in May when a drunk passenger told stewards in Ho Chi Minh City there was a bomb in his suitcase as his plane was about to take off for Hanoi.
Earlier this month, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked airline authorities to tighten security following the foiled plot to blow up aircraft leaving Britain for the United States.
Migs scrambled after no fly zone approached New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI):
Two Mig-21 fighter aircrafts of the Indian Air Force (IAF) were swung into action in the western sector on Friday morning when a blip was seen on the radar approaching close to the no-fly zone in the area close to Bikaner in Rajasthan, opposite southern Punjab in Pakistan. The blip was caused due to an object trying to cross into the no-fly zone when the radar picked up the signal. The blip was also picked up by the Delhi Airport ATC. Official sources disclosed, that the unidentified object did not cross the no-fly zone which covers a 10 kilometre area between India and Pakistan, and as per agreement is non-violable. The intercepting Migs were flown from the Suratgarh Air Force base. The IAF spokesperson confirmed that an inquiry has been ordered into and it was too preliminary to judge the real identity of the object, which could have been a Pakistani aircraft or an Unidentified Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A detailed inquiry report is awaited.
Migs scrambled after no fly zone approached New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI):
The IAF spokesperson confirmed that an inquiry has been ordered into and it was too preliminary to judge the real identity of the object, which could have been a Pakistani aircraft or an Unidentified Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
US student arrested for carrying dynamite in checked luggage
Houston, Aug 26 (UNI)
A college student was arrested at the airport here for allegedly carrying dynamite and other bomb-making material in his checked luggage and a plane coming to the US from Britain diverted following an alert leading to questioning of passengers.
The two incidents were among the seven security-related developments which underlined the tense situation resulting from the recent foiled terror plot in Britain to blow up the US-bound flights.
The 21-year old student, an American citizen identified as Howard McFarland Fish on board a Continental flight from Argentina, was found to be carrying in his checked luggage prohibited material, including half a stick of dynamite, during a routine check at Houston’s Bush International Airport but officials said terrorism was not involved.
He is expected to appear before a Federal Court on Monday and could get up to ten years in prison if convicted. The prosecutors are yet to decide whether to prosecute him and on what charges.
Officials quoted Fish as saying that he had been exploring mines in Bolivia and had purchased dynamite as a souvenir. He was also allegedly carrying a blasting cap, a home make fuse and a quarter pound of ammonium nitrate.
Fish was in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement yesterday and was being questioned by it.
In another incident, an American Airlines flight from Manchester in England to Chicago was diverted to Bangor airport in Maine and officials said they learnt of the threat only after the plane was in the air but did not elaborate.
The passengers deplaned and were questioned by FBI.