A Chilean man angry over an airline not returning his suitcase made false bomb threats that caused up to 11 commercial flights to take emergency measures in Chile, Argentina and Peru, authorities said on Friday.
Police said they arrested Franco Sepulveda Robles, 29, in the northern Chilean city of Antofagasta after investigators linked his cellphone to the wave of threats that disrupted flights on Thursday. He was brought to the capital, Santiago, to begin legal proceedings and was banned from getting close to any airport.
Chilean Minister of the Interior Andres Chadwick said Sepulveda could be charged with security law infringement, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Attorney Ignacio Moya, who is representing the suspect, said his client denied making the threatening calls.
Police chief Diego Rojas said preliminary investigations indicated “that this person had planned a flight that left behind his suitcase. They did not return it to him, and since he was annoyed with the [airline] companies and with the entire air traffic control system, it seems like he made these calls.”
Several airliners were forced to make emergency landings or turn back to their original airports in Chile and Peru. Other planes had already reached their destination or had not yet taken off.
A LATAM Airlines plane flying from Peru’s capital of Lima to Santiago was safely evacuated after making an unscheduled landing in the southern Peruvian city of Pisco. Two flights operated by Chile-based Sky Airlines bound for Rosario, Argentina, and the northern Chilean city of Calama returned to Santiago without incident following phoned-in threats.
Victor Villalobos Collao, director of Chile’s civilian aviation authority, on Thursday night said that 11 calls had been received threatening various airline flights.
He said two of the supposed flights did not exist, but the calls forced “a procedure” to be carried out for the other nine, without specifying what actions were taken.
No explosives had been found, he said.
Later, prosecutor Eduardo Baeza said Sepulveda Robles made threats that affected 11 flights.
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