'Change your jokes': court tells passenger who claimed he had a 'bomb' in bag
Conditional discharge for man who joked with ground handler after being told he had to pay a fee
A man has been let off with a conditional discharge after he joked to an airport ground handler that he had a “bomb” in his bag.
Jure Virant, a 24-year-old Slovenian delivery man, was waiting to board a Ryanair flight back to Zagreb when a ground handler approached him and asked him to place the bag in the baggage sizer.
After measuring the bag, the ground handler told him it was “oversized”, and he would need to pay an extra €60.
Virant argued that he had travelled from Zagreb with the same bag and had not been charged so could not understand why he should pay the fee for the return trip.
He eventually agreed to pay up, but while the ground handler was placing a tag on Virant's bag, she asked him if he had any electronics in the bag, to which he replied, “there is a bomb”.
Virant said he immediately told her he was joking, and CCTV footage of the incident showed him laughing.
The woman informed her superiors, however, and airport security and the police were informed. She told the police Virant was “very serious” when telling her about the “bomb” in his luggage.
Prosecuting inspector Roxanne Tabone told the court that the airport did not stop operations because of the incident due to the luggage having already been screened. It was scanned a second time following the incident.
The prosecution spoke to the ground handler who said she was “fearful” when hearing the word “bomb”. It also triggered a security response at the Malta International Airport though operations remained unaffected.
On Thursday, Virant pleaded guilty to spreading false news and making a false declaration.
While the court warned him of the consequences of doing so and allowed him time to rethink his guilty plea, he maintained the plea.
The prosecution and defence filed a note asking that the accused be conditionally discharged on this occasion.
Virant said he felt sorry for his actions.
Addressing the accused, the court said: “You are 24, and you were joking. But she [the ground handler] had to do what she had to do due to her responsibilities and duties and did not realise it was a joke.”
“Due to this [the joke], so many resources had to be used, and you even got to spend a night in a cell at the police lock-up, wasting a lot of time and resources. Do yourself a favour and change your jokes. See where certain jokes have led you.”
After taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, the accused was conditionally discharged, provided he does not commit another offence for a year.
Virant is the second person to land himself in court recently after joking that he was carrying a "bomb" in his luggage; last month, a 21-year-old man was conditionally discharged for three years after falsely telling airport ground handlers he was carrying a bomb in his haversack.
Magistrate Joseph Gatt presided.
Police inspector Roxanne Tabone prosecuted.