Man jailed for making hoax bomb call to delay plane
A passenger who made a hoax bomb call because he was late for his Gatwick flight has been jailed for 10 months.
French national, Jacob Meir Abdellak, rang police minutes before the Norwegian flight was due to leave Gatwick Airport for Los Angeles on May 11, delaying the flight by 90 minutes.
Investigations by Sussex police showed the phone number used to make the call was the same one he had used to book his flight.
Further investigations made by Gatwick Airport revealed Abdellak was significantly late for the flight and became abusive when staff denied him boarding.
He was told to return on another date to rearrange his flight.
The 47-year-old librarian, of Amhurst Park, Hackney, London, was arrested at Gatwick later that month as he attempted to board another flight to the US.
He was charged with communicating false information regarding a noxious substance likely to create serious risk to human health, but initially denied the offence.
Abdellak admitted the telephone number was his, but claimed he had lost the SIM card a few days earlier and therefore the call could not have been made by him.
But at Lewes Crown Court this week he changed his mind and pleaded guilty.
He was sentenced to 10 months in prison and required to pay a £140 victim surcharge.
Gatwick Police chief inspector Marc Clothier said: "This was a quite ridiculous decision made by Abdellak, who fabricated an extremely serious allegation purely for his own benefit. He was running late for his flight and thought it would be a good idea to call in a hoax bomb, however this turned out to be the worst decision he could have made.
"His actions caused the flight to be delayed, and also caused a level of fear and distress among a number of staff and passengers on board that flight.
"The consequences of making allegations about bombs, guns or similar at densely populated locations such as airports are well documented, and Abdellak’s sentence serves as a warning to others that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and offenders will be dealt with robustly."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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