Football star charged after ‘making bomb threat’ at LAX
American football star Aldon Smith was arrested at Los Angeles airport after allegedly making a bomb threat to a security agent.
The San Francisco 49ers linebacker became uncooperative and made the threat after being randomly selected for secondary screening, according to airport police official Karla Ortiz.
Ortiz said Smith made the bomb threat comment to an airport security agent while walking to the departure gate.
Police officers caught up with the 24-year-old and arrested him when he became disruptive.
He was later charged with ‘false reporting of a bomb threat’ and released on US$20,000 bail.
The incident follows a ‘joke’ tweet posted to American Airlines by a Dutch teenager yesterday claiming to be a member of Al Qaida and threatening to ‘do something really big’ on June 1.
The airline immediately responded by saying the user’s IP address and details had be forwarded to security and the FBI.’
The resulting twitter exchanges went viral with the user, known only as ‘Sarah’ quickly gaining over 30,000 followers.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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