One man would do anything for love; even call in a fake bomb threat on a flight that his girlfriend was on. A Shenzen Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in China after a man called in a fake bomb threat to keep his girlfriend from leaving him.
Shortly after midnight yesterday, the Hefei airport in the Anhui Province received a telephone call saying that a flight that had just departed, flight ZH9786 bound for Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, had a bomb on board, Shanghai Daily reports.
The plane was forced to land at an airport in Nanchang. Authorities investigated the plane, but it did not have any explosives on board. None of the 160 passengers on board were harmed.
The caller was identified as a 32-year-old man with the surname Chen. He turned himself in to police at Anhui at around 2:50 a.m.. He told them that he made the call because he didn't want his girlfriend to leave him after they fought on. She was on board the flight that he lied about.
The man was arrested for making the false threat call.
Another plane was sent to pick up the passengers at Nanchang. They then continued on the flight to Shenzen.
According to Shanghai Daily, prank calls have increased this year. More than 10 domestic carriers received false threats calls. One included a Shandong Airlines flight SC1170 from Guangzhou to Jinan on February 8. It had to make an emergency landing at the Hefei Airport due to a threat call.
Two Air China flight received hoax threat calls before they took off on the same day in October. Officials found nothing suspicious on both flights.
Making a prank call is a serious offense and a prankster could land themselves in prison for up to a year. If someone gets hurt because of a hoax threat, the caller can receive a minimum of five years.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
