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Prank Hijacking sms message gone wrong |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Londinium
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Via: The Advertiser
A MAN on board a flight from Sydney Airport caused a major international security alert when he text-messaged his wife overseas to tell her his plane had been hijacked by Islamic terrorists.
Italian tourist Antonio Casale, 35, sent the SMS after taking off from Sydney Airport on Austrian Airlines flight OS2 at 6.30pm last Sunday.
It is understood Mr Casale, who was travelling from Sydney to Vienna via Kuala Lumpur, sent the messages during a refuelling stop in the Malaysian capital. He claimed armed terrorists were in control of the plane and were taking the passengers to an unknown destination.
Mr Casale's distressed wife alerted Italian police within minutes of receiving the flurry of messages at home in Milan.
Australian Federal Police were then told a group of terrorists had possibly boarded the flight in Sydney and were asked by Italian authorities to carry out background checks on all passengers.
Anti-terror agents in Kuala Lumpur were also tipped off about the possibility of another September 11-style terror attack. They were able to contact the pilot and connect him to counter-terror negotiators.
Mr Casale's message was confirmed as a hoax when negotiators contacted the pilot and found him oblivious to any hijacking attempt.
The flight was allowed to continue and local authorities arrested the man on his arrival in Vienna.
Other passengers on the flight had no inkling of the drama unfolding around them. Mr Casale was taken aside by the plane's captain and forced to apologise for his prank.
"He sent an SMS to his wife saying the aeroplane had been hijacked and was being diverted," Vienna Airport police chief Dr Leo Lauber said.
"It wasn't very funny but it was his idea of a joke. I should also say the other passengers were not in fear or distress because they did not know about the message."
For 12 anxious minutes, Austrian Airlines and anti-terror agents in four countries considered the matter anything but a joke.
"There was a time for 10 to 12 minutes when we first discovered the message that we did not know if it was an authentic terrorist situation," Austrian Airlines spokesman Johannes Davoras said.
"It was a serious incident because you have to go through the checks and all the procedures to ensure the threat was not real."
He said airline chiefs spoke to the pilot on three occasions before they were satisfied there was no threat. Stewards on the flight took Mr Casale to the captain where he confessed to sending the message as a joke.
Dr Lauber said police decided to release Mr Casale without charge after deciding there was no malice behind the ill-judged prank.
"He did not mean any harm to anybody and he said sorry for the mistake," he said.
While the incident was exposed as a prank, the Federal Government was prepared to put its counter-terrorism program into full swing if the messages proved correct.
"We certainly don't need idiots carrying on the way this passenger apparently was," Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said.
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PeterKay
Joined: Jul 08, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: The Ummah
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Can't beleive he got away with that 
Stupid Plonker.
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methylated_spirit
Joined: Jul 07, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Bonnie Scotland
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At least it shows counter-terrrorist measures appear to be up to scratch!
Hello, Scroto!
U.G.L.Y. You ain't got no alibi, you ugly! |
Ayush
Joined: Sep 12, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Hyderabad, india
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Maybe he was mentally ill :-D
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Posted: 2004-12-22 17:17
