PETALING JAYA: Two Chinese tourists have been arrested and remanded for four days after sending a bomb threat email to an airline company following their dissatisfaction with a seating arrangement issue.
According to Berita Harian, the suspects, a 28-year-old woman and 29-year-old man, had initially contacted their travel agent requesting seat changes for their flight but received no response to their inquiry.
Frustrated by the lack of communication, the pair then sent an email to the airline’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur claiming there was a bomb aboard the aircraft scheduled to depart from Tawau Airport to Kota Kinabalu.
Tawau district police chief Assistant Commissioner Jasmin Hussin confirmed that authorities received a report regarding the incident from airline staff at 3pm yesterday.
“Following the report, police detained the couple involved and brought them to the Tawau district police headquarters for further investigation,“ he told the Malay daily when contacted today.
Jasmin stated that Magistrate Don Stiwin Malanjum issued a four-day remand order until September 27 for both suspects to allow full investigations to proceed.
The case is being investigated under Section 506 and Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation, as well as Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for misuse of communication services.
It is understood that the tourist couple had been vacationing in Semporna and were scheduled to board their flight to Kota Kinabalu today when the incident occurred.
The false bomb threat disrupted airport operations and triggered security protocols, demonstrating the serious consequences that can result from making fraudulent emergency reports to aviation authorities.
