"Russian airport police chief triggers alarm to help drinking pals"

Friday, September 8, 2006

Russian airport police chief triggers alarm to help drinking pals 
Deutsche Presse-Agenteur


Moscow - The chief of police of the regional airport Yekaterinburg has been
booked on suspicion of falsely reporting a bomb scare in order to help his
drinking buddies to get on board a flight, justice officials reported
Friday. The incident happened last February, when the suspect and his
business friends had been enjoying a few rounds of drinks too many when the
friends suddenly realized they had missed their return flight to St.
Petersburg. 

The man, chief of police at the Yekaterinburg airport, quickly got on the
phone to tell the airport security duty officer of an anonymous bomb threat
to the Tupolev-134 plane with 40 persons on board, the RIA Novosti agency
reported. 

The plane, already in the air, was ordered to return to the airport. This
gave the police chief's drinking pals a second opportunity to get to the
airport and board the plane. 

Justice officials uncovered the deed in a follow-up investigation into the
bomb warning. 

The police chief and the airport duty officer each face up to four years'
hard labour for abusing their office and falsely reporting a terror attack. 

The Yekaterinburg airport is one of Russia's busiest regional air transport
hubs.

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