Indian man faces stiff fine for Geneva Airport bomb hoax

Passengers were evacuated from the Russian Aeroflot plane at Geneva Airport on October 13 following a bomb threat Keystone

An Indian man who made a false bomb threat at Geneva Airport last month faces a CHF50,000 ($51,200) bill from Geneva police, according to reports. He has already been sentenced to six months in prison.

The 39-year-old Indian man, who reportedly resides in Montreux, Switzerland, is due to receive a bill of CHF50,000 for the police operation resulting from a bomb hoax at Geneva airport on October 13. In all, 101 police officers and security officers were mobilized in response to the scare.

Russian airline Aeroflot had to evacuate that day’s flight 2381 after the man presented himself at an airline desk claiming there was a bomb on the plane. He later told police it was a joke.

The plane’s destination was Moscow. Its 115 passengers – who had already boarded – had to disembark. A bomb squad from the Geneva police inspected the plane for explosive devices.

The passengers were later transferred to another airplane to continue their journey to Moscow. The Indian man reportedly planned to take the plane to Moscow and fly then onwards to India to visit his family.

“We had to stop the plane, search it, and secure the area and calm passengers. That quickly involves many people,” police chief François Waridel told Le Matin newspaper on Monday.

Police arrested the hoaxer, who was found guilty of “causing fear and alarm among the population” at a hearing the following day. He was sentenced to six months in prison.

This is the second such bomb hoax this year at the airport. In July, a 41-year-old French woman was given a six-month prison sentence, of which she must serve three, after making a false bomb threat at Geneva Airport to stop her husband and his mistress from boarding a plane, as she told a French court. She also has to pay a CHF90,000 fine ($92,250) fine.

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