Man sent to prison for hoax bomb threats at Prague airport

A three year sentence has been handed down to a 20-year-old man for making a series of hoax telephone calls claiming there were bombs at Ruzyne airport. The man made a total of four hoax calls last summer, forcing airport authorities to evacuate the building and cancel several flights.

A phone call was made on the third of July last year with alarming news. A man dialled the 158 emergency number and stated that at exactly 2:00, that day, a 5 kilogram bomb would explode at Prague's Ruzyne airport. The airport immediately went into emergency mode. Here's what Vlasta Pallova, a spokesperson for the Czech Airport Authority said happened:

"We had to cancel many flights, from and to Prague. Many planes must wait on the runway with the passengers onboard when there is a bomb threat at the airport. Also, every shop and restaurant must be shutdown. The important thing is that all the passengers must leave the terminal hall and wait outside for about two, three, or four hours."

Shortly after the call was made police experts began to analyse the telephone call and eventually traced it to a town called Odolena Voda, about 20 kilometres outside of Prague. There police found 20 year-old Pavel Vesely. Upon approaching the suspect he answered with a simple, yes, it was me. Mr. Vesely explained that he got in an argument with his grandmother, and in frustration he went to the telephone both and made the call. Mr. Vesely would make two more hoax bomb threats by phone until police would catch him again, five months later. A total of four phone calls claiming there was a bomb at Prague's Ruzyne airport were made by the man.

The Czech airport authority estimated the costs of the bomb threats at six and a half million Czech crowns. Czech Airlines, which had to ground a number of its flights, said its losses were also quite high. On Tuesday a judge handed down a three year jail sentence to the man and ordered him to pay Czech airlines 88 thousand crowns in damages.

There have been an increasing number of bomb threats in the Czech Republic as of late, and they are not limited to the Prague Airport. Interestingly enough hockey games have become major targets for hoax bomb threats, with two games having to be stopped for hours last week while police searched the arenas. These threats have even forced the league to adopt new rules which state that games must be completed after a thorough search of the premises. I asked Vlasta Pallova if hoax bomb threats were increasing at Prague's Ruzyne airport:

"Last year we had about 6 or 7 telephone calls about a bomb threat and this year, just January and February, we had also 6 telephone calls."

Do you think people are afraid to fly because of bomb threats? Has there been any decrease in passengers because of it?

"Sometimes, but I think generally no."