ABU DHABI // A 66-year old Frenchman arrested on board an Etihad Airways flight last week clearly declared he had a bomb in his possession, civil aviation officials said yesterday. Etihad also said that Jean-Louis Lioret was detained after making "comments threatening the security of the aircraft" while boarding a flight from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok on Tuesday. Initial reports, quoting Mr Lioret's brother, said the Frenchman had been asked by a fellow passenger to keep a package on a seat next to him as it was empty, to which Mr Lioret joked: "I hope it's not a bomb."
The package was later found to contain cigarettes. But Saif Mohammed al Suwaidi, the director general of General Civil Aviation Authority, said Mr Lioret made a "direct threat" on the aircraft. "The report I received said he clearly declared he had a bomb," Mr al Suwaidi said. "If someone on an aircraft declares they are carrying a bomb or any kind of weapon, that in itself is an act against the law. We have to stop the aircraft, inspect it and it causes delays."
Mr Lioret was in Abu Dhabi on a stopover from Paris. An unnamed airport official told Agence France-Presse that Mr Lioret twice claimed a bomb was in his bag, and that another passenger and two flight attendants gave statements detailing the incident. Even joking about being in possession of a bomb is considered a serious offence, said Capt Phil Smith, an air safety expert and chairman of the UK's Royal Aeronautical Society's Flight Operations Group.
"You should never, ever do it, under any circumstances," he said. "It's taken very seriously, for obvious reasons, and it's by no means the first time somebody has been arrested for doing it." Last week, two British men appeared before a London court in connection with a bomb threat that grounded a Dubai-bound Emirates Airline plane. In June, an Emirates flight attendant was sentenced to 18 months in prison after leaving a note in a plane's lavatory claiming there were explosives in the cargo hold.
Two weeks ago, a man in the US spent three days in jail after reportedly asking a flight attendant, "Are you the one who checks for shoe bombs?" when boarding a domestic flight. Mr al Suwaidi said it was not illegal to say the word "bomb" on an aircraft, unless it could be taken as a threat to security. After the incident involving the Frenchman, the plane was checked by police and airport authorities, said Richard Hill, the chief operating officer at Etihad. The aircraft was cleared for departure at 3.50am on Wednesday, nearly six hours late.
Abu Dhabi Police declined to comment on the incident, referring enquiries to the French Embassy. Carole Loisel, the French consul, said the embassy was aware of the incident but had "very little information" on the case. lmorris@thenational.ae
