Brit girl arrested for bomb "joke"
BRIT student Samantha Marson faced six months in an American jail last night after joking to an airport police officer that she had a bomb.
The cop was believed to have stopped the 21-year-old on the concourse at Miami International Airport.
A policeman based there said: “Samantha had a small rucksack on her back and was asked by an officer what was in it. She laughed and said, ‘I’ve got a bomb’, and he immediately handcuffed her and put her under arrest.
“She was in floods of tears and apologised three times but the officer was having none of it.”
American airports are on high alert for terror attacks.
The stupid remark sparked a full-scale alert and she was immediately thrown into custody.
Within hours Samantha, of Barnes, West London, was hauled before a judge in handcuffs and remanded to a holding centre packed with hardened criminals.
And last night she was facing six months in custody because she cannot pay her bail set at nearly £4,500.
The officer said: “As far as I’m aware she will have been transferred to Dade County jail to await trial.”
Her dad Jim, 75, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, said: “We are beside ourselves with worry. She phoned at about 3am on Sunday and was hysterical — screaming and upset and in a terrible state. I called the police in Miami and was told that she’d been arrested because she’d dared to say the ‘B-word’.
“Clearly the Americans did not see the joke. She hardly looks like Osama Bin Laden.”
“But now she faces a long time in jail waiting for a trial which is certain to be a farce.”
Samantha had been in the States for three months with her boyfriend Charlie Schmidt, 26 — a sailor in the US Navy.
She was catching British Airways flight BA206 to Heathrow on Saturday to renew her visa so she could return.
A Miami police spokesman said last night: “This is something we take extremely seriously. Talk of bombs is no laughing matter.”
Foreign Office officials were seeking information on the case.
BA said: “We would strongly advise all passengers not to make any remarks which could be misinterpreted. The US authorities take them very seriously.”
Over reaction or justified?