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Air passenger charged after alleged bomb threat causes airport panic

A Namibian air passenger (66) is facing charges of communicating false information and offensive verbal behaviour after allegedly saying a regional flight at Hosea Kutako International Airport possibly carried a bomb.

A source close to the matter says the suspect, who was travelling to Cape Town with FlySafair, made these remarks on Tuesday afternoon.

“While on board, he made remarks of a possible bomb on the aircraft, which immediately turned into a bomb threat,” the source says.

“This resulted in all security measures being activated, whereby all passengers were offloaded and subjected to rescreening.

The K9 unit was also deployed to search the airport, however, nothing was detected or found.

The passenger involved was also offloaded,” the source says.

The Namibian yesterday reported that national police spokesperson deputy commissioner Kauna Shikwambi confirmed the incident.

She said the man had allegedly uttered the words: “There could be a bomb on the aircraft for all we know.”

This allegedly caused panic at the airport, with security personnel and the police taking action.

Shikwambi, who has confirmed the arrest, said the man has been charged under the Civil Aviation Act.

“He is expected to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Thursday [today],” she said.

Namibia Airports Company spokesperson Dan Kamati on Tuesday said the suspect was a passenger who boarded a departing regional flight.

The bomb threat, he said, was confirmed to be a security breach.

“The necessary security protocols were activated, which included the involvement of the Namibian Police’s bomb squad.

Following swift action by stakeholders, the flight was cleared and the airport was reopened for normal operations,” Kamati said.

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