Police

Tourist fined for plane bomb hoax

Palma airport. | Alejandro Sepulveda Soler

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterAlcudia27/08/2018 00:00

A Swedish tourist was arrested last week for having used social media to suggest that he was going to bomb a plane. The Guardia Civil were able to establish the location of the tourist, who was staying at a hotel in Alcudia, and to figure out that the message he had posted - which was in English - had probably been written with the help of Google Translate.

The specific computer used was for hotel clients. The bomb threat was for a plane the tourist was due to have been on the following day, as were various other guests at the same hotel. The hoax backfired when he was arrested, missed the flight and appeared in court on Saturday. He was issued with a sizeable fine.

It would seem that the same tourist, prior to having posted the bomb threat message, had sought a change of hotel from his tour operator, a request that was turned down. This appeared to have played a part in his having made the threat.