ORAC
10th Mar 2007, 17:04
Torygraph: Russian bomb hoax causes aircraft to return
What do you do if you are a government official and two of your wealthy businessmen chums got so drunk in the airport bar that they missed their flight?
Presented with just such a dilemma, Col Ahmatzia Muhametkhanov, head of the interior ministry department at the Koltsovo airport in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, thought he had found an ingenious solution: Claiming he had received an anonymous tip off, he instructed the control tower to radio the aircraft, already half an hour into its flight, and inform the captain that there could be a bomb on board.
The plane duly returned to Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains, where the two inebriated businessmen duly got on board after a search by an anti-terrorism squad. After they discovered nothing, the aircraft resumed its flight to St Petersburg.
The October district court in Yekaterinburg, however, was less than amused and yesterday sentenced Muhemetkhanov to 21 years for his stunt, pulled off in February last year. Although the two businessmen were called as witnesses, both said they were too drunk to recall the events of the night in question.
What do you do if you are a government official and two of your wealthy businessmen chums got so drunk in the airport bar that they missed their flight?
Presented with just such a dilemma, Col Ahmatzia Muhametkhanov, head of the interior ministry department at the Koltsovo airport in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, thought he had found an ingenious solution: Claiming he had received an anonymous tip off, he instructed the control tower to radio the aircraft, already half an hour into its flight, and inform the captain that there could be a bomb on board.
The plane duly returned to Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains, where the two inebriated businessmen duly got on board after a search by an anti-terrorism squad. After they discovered nothing, the aircraft resumed its flight to St Petersburg.
The October district court in Yekaterinburg, however, was less than amused and yesterday sentenced Muhemetkhanov to 21 years for his stunt, pulled off in February last year. Although the two businessmen were called as witnesses, both said they were too drunk to recall the events of the night in question.