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Source: ONE News
A traveller from Sydney who sparked a security alert at the Hamilton International Airport is no longer laughing as he realised the joke's now on him following a bomb scare.
Acting Senior Sergeant Ricky Thompson says the alarm was raised shortly before 8am Tuesday when Aviation Security staff called police about a man who had told them there was a ticking bomb in one of his bags.
"He'd arrived on a trans-Tasman flight early this morning and was waiting in the terminal with the intent of arranging further transport and wandered off, leaving his bags unattended.
"Returning to the upstairs lounge he found Av-Sec staff with his bags who cautioned him about leaving his luggage unattended in an airport to which he responded that one of his bags contained a bomb and could they not hear it ticking?"
Realising his attempt at humour was back-firing the man told the security officers he was only joking.
The 44-year-old Australian resident's bags were searched and no suspicious devices were found however a Swiss Army knife was recovered.
The man was arrested and faces charges of breaching Aviation Act offences.
Thompson says police hope the man's arrest will serve as a timely reminder of how serious security around airports is taken.
"It's not something we take lightly and anyone contemplating similar behaviour would be best advised to keep their 'jokes' to themselves," says Thompson.
