Passenger Arrested for Fake Bomb Threat After Airline Loses Wedding Luggage

Adhnan Khalid, 37, of Wellesley Road, Buckhaven, appeared before Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to answer the charges against him, reports Fife Today. "On October 1, 2019, the accused traveled to Tangier via Barcelona using the Spanish airline Vueling. During the trip, his luggage was lost and, as a result, he arrived in Tangier without it, which led him to cancel his wedding, planned due to the loss of the required documents," the prosecutor’s deputy said.

"On the return trip, he filed a claim with Vueling and received £277 in compensation, but he was not satisfied and felt that the incurred expenses, as well as the inconvenience, amounted to much more than the sum he had been paid," he continued, adding that he had sent an email and a number of messages to Vueling via Facebook. Without response. "On January 31, 2020 at 9:40 a.m., a post from a Facebook profile in the accused’s name appeared on Vueling Airlines’ Facebook wall. It read: ’You hope you’ll find the bombs that have been planted on Vueling flights departing from Spain. Good luck, you’ll need it. I was told next week it would be a flight from France.’"

Another message was posted on the company’s wall around 10:05 a.m.: "It’s amazing to see how Vueling ignores crew and passenger health and safety information. Don’t take Vueling or Iberia flights." "When a Vueling security officer saw the messages, he hid them from public view to avoid alarming the public and contacted the Border Force (the agency responsible for border control operations, ed.) at Gatwick Airport, as he thought the accused was a British citizen." The information was passed on to the Scottish police’s anti-terrorism unit, which determined that there was no credible threat.

"It was stupid of him to do what he did - but it was entirely due to frustration rather than anything more than that," Khalid’s lawyer pleaded. Due to the seriousness of the charges, Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith decided to place the accused in custody.