French ex- cop held over flight bomb hoax
Paris, Dec. 21: A retired French police officer travelling on Air France was detained Monday after a fake bomb hidden in a lavatory forced his Parisbound flight to make an emergency landing in Kenya, according to prosecutors.
The hoax — the fourth against Air France in recent weeks — comes amid heightened concerns about extremist violence in many countries, and aggravated passenger jitters around the holidays. The man in custody is a former police officer who was detained upon arrival Monday at Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to an official in the prosecutor’s office in the nearby Paris suburb of Bobigny.
The official, who is not authorised to be publicly identified speaking about an ongoing investigation, did not release the suspect’s name or information
Kenyan interior minister Joseph Nkaissery said the suspect was among six passengers questioned Sunday
about what he is suspected of. Kenyan interior minister Joseph Nkaissery said the suspect was among six passengers questioned Sunday in Kenya. Mr Nkaissery said Kenya alerted French authorities about the suspected involvement of this man and a travelling companion in placing the fake bomb in the bathroom.
He said sniffer dogs traced the package back to their seats and the bathroom. The arrest is part of an investigation prompted by a legal complaint filed by Air France on Monday for reckless endangerment. The lawsuit does not name a perpetrator but leaves it to investigators to determine who might be prosecuted, and allows Air France to seek damages in an eventual trial.
On Sunday, Air France Flight 463 from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius to Paris made an emergency landing in Kenya, after a bomb was reported aboard. Authorities later discovered a fake explosive, rigged with cardboard, sheets of paper and a household timer, and declared it a hoax.