British schoolboy is arrested over bomb threats to US passenger jets

A BRITISH schoolboy was arrested yesterday after the FBI linked him to a series of bomb hoaxes on Twitter that led to airliners being grounded and military jets scrambled.

The 16-year-old was held at his family’s house in the Wirral by specialist cybercrime officers who also seized computer equipment and mobile phones.

American police sources say he is suspected of being the hoaxer who used a Twitter account called Ransom The Thug, which caused months of chaos to airlines and colleges in the US before it was closed down.

In an interview with an American TV station earlier this year, a teenager claiming to be responsible for the account said he found the disruption caused by his bogus bomb warnings funny.

One of the first threats being investigated by officers questioning the schoolboy was made against Michigan State University last November and resulted in a security lockdown across the campus.

According to reports in the US, the suspect had also claimed he made bomb threats against Western Michigan University and three schools in the state.

He is also suspected of making some of around 20 hoax threats against airlines in the US in January, several of which resulted in planes being grounded.

In one case, a message warned there was a bomb and an armed passenger on a United Airlines flight from Newark to Miami.

It read: ‘Flight 223 has a bomb on it, and a passenger in seat 26 has a loaded mac 11 [a type of submachine gun].’

But on this occasion the flight had already been cancelled because of a blizzard. In another incident, two planes were escorted by fighter jets to Atlanta airport after bomb threats made via Twitter.

In some cases, passengers using the social network during flights were able to read terrifying threats against the aircraft they were on, then had to wait on the ground while everyone on board was searched.

‘There were dogs sniffing us as we were coming on and off the plane – yeah, it was a little crazy,’ said one passenger, Can- dice Burgen.

Officers are also speaking to the arrested boy about hoax calls known as ‘swatting’ – aimed at provoking the deployment of armed SWAT teams – against airports and police stations.

He is also suspected of using Skype, MSN Messenger and email to make threats in the US.

The 16-year-old was detained early yesterday by cyber- crime officers from Titan, the North West regional organised crime squad, working with the FBI.

Det Supt Jason Hudson, head of operations at Titan, said he would be interviewed in a manner that was ‘mindful of his age but also the seriousness of the allegations’, and findings would be shared with the FBI.

He added that the hoax calls had ‘major implications’ for the institutions at which they were directed, demonstrating the global reach of such offences.

‘They are not a harmless prank and people need to realise that their behaviour online does not exist in a bubble and has an effect and consequences in the real world,’ he said.

Such hoax calls in the US can result in a prison sentence of up to five years or a $250,000 fine.

‘Not a harmless prank’