CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – A French national, who threatened to blow himself up while on board a flight to Guadeloupe, has been charged for “making a bomb hoax”.
Police said Serge Basil Mishaud was preparing to board the Air Caribe plane when he told officers screening his luggage that he was in possession of bomb and was planning to detonate it while on board the flight.
Operations at the George FL Charles Airport, just outside the capital, ground to a halt as police placed the French national placed under arrest.
The Bomb Squad from the Royal St Lucia Police Force was called in to assess the situation which was found out to be hoax.
Mishaud was charged for the offence of “making a bomb hoax” and has been remanded until July 9, when he will appear in court to answer to the charge.
This is second such incident so far this year in which a foreign national has been arrested for threatening to blow up an airline here.
In February, a 30-year old Columbian woman was charged and sent to jail for six months after making a similar threat.
The airport was shut down after the woman, who was about to board a LIAT flight, declared that she was in possession of an explosive device concealed in a clock. That claim also turned out to be false.
Police have warned that they will not take lightly to such pranks which waste valuable state time and resources to investigate.
