Oh no, another case of unfair profiling and overreaction <g>...
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Men Held in Rome for Joking About Hijack
Sunday January 4, 2004 4:16 PM
ROME (AP) - Three passengers aboard a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Rome were detained Sunday after one of them allegedly said the aircraft was being hijacked, then quickly said it was all a joke, an airline official said.
``Yes, it was a joke, but in these times we don't find that kind of joke so funny,'' KLM spokesman Bart Koster told The Associated Press in Amsterdam. ``We handed them directly over to Italian police and it's up to them what else will happen, if anything.''
Authorities at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport confirmed that three men were being held, but did not immediately give other details.
The Italian news agency Apcom said the men were believed to be Egyptian, although their identities were still being checked.
Apcom, citing investigators, said that toward the end of Flight 1601 one of the three men walked toward the cockpit and said ``This is a hijacking,'' and immediately explained that he was joking.
``I can't say exactly what happened, because, you'll understand, these are confidential matters,'' Koster said. ``This kind of incident happens now and again, and some joker doesn't realize how sensitive a statement like that is.''
The Italian news agency ANSA said two companions of the man who made the joke said they were part of Egypt's diplomatic mission in Tunis, Tunisia. Koster said he could not confirm that report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...585264,00.html