False bomb tip grounds Canadian groom - thestar.com
False bomb tip grounds Canadian groom
A Canadian on his way to Pakistan to get married was pulled off his flight after a tipster told police the man was carrying explosives.
Now the RCMP is investigating whether the tip was a hoax.
There have been reports that the call came from a woman motivated by ill-will against the man.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 782 from Toronto to Karachi was diverted to Stockholm after police received the anonymous tip. Police evacuated the 273 passengers, including 102 Canadian nationals, and detained the man.
Swedish police identified the passenger as Majid Maher, a 28-year-old Canadian citizen travelling alone.
He was on his way to Pakistan to get married, spokesman Hokin Westin told the Star from Stockholm.
The RCMP received the tip after the flight had already departed Toronto at 5 p.m. Friday. National security investigators, working with Transport Canada and the airline, got word to the planes pilot, who landed the Boeing 777 at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm around 7:30 a.m. local time.
Swedish police said the man was not on any international no-fly lists and had cleared a security check in Toronto.
Still, a SWAT team detained Maher as he was evacuated with the other passengers, who were unaware of the threat until the left the plane. They had been told they were landing because of a technical problem.
Swedish police scoured the aircraft and searched luggage for explosives. They questioned passengers, crew members and Maher.
A prosecutor decided to release him following that questioning, said Erik Widstrand, another Swedish police spokesman. Maher didnt resist when the SWAT team took him into custody and cooperated with investigators.
He was calm but irritated, Widstrand said.
The other passengers were allowed back on the plane after about nine hours. It departed for Manchester, England, where passengers were expected to continue on to Karachi.
Authorities in Sweden were trying to get Maher on another Pakistan-bound flight, either late Saturday or Sunday.
In Ottawa, the RCMP is investigating the tip that started it all.
We took this threat seriously, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Marc LaPorte. We werent able to confirm the credibility of the information right on the spot but measures were taken to try to avoid an incident.
LaPorte would not confirm reports that the tip came from a woman with a grudge against Maher. The call is believed to have come from within Canada, but that is still under investigation, he said.
If the tip is found to be false, whoever made it could be charged with public mischief or, more seriously, a terrorist hoax, punishable by up to five years in prison.
A terrorist hoax implies danger to people, said LaPorte. And obviously youre re-routing a plane and landing it somewhere. Youre taking extra precautions. Youre engaging a lot more police forces, especially when youre talking an international incident.
In Washington, the FBI was assisting Swedish and Canadian authorities in their investigation, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said Saturday.
Chris Mathers, a crime and risk consultant in Toronto, said some people within the South Asian community who have been involved in personal or business disputes have made false calls to police over the past couple of years.
Calling the authorities and saying that guys a jihadist, said Mathers, as he described some of the types of accusations made.
Mathers said only a few weeks ago that he dealt with a case where a woman called authorities, accusing a man of being a terrorist after a personal argument.
If they (officials) start to get 50 calls a day for bombs on airplanes, they can't make every airplane land, said Mathers.