JAKARTA. A Garuda Indonesia plane servicing the Surabaya-Jakarta route received a hoax bomb threat on Monday morning.
“We received the threat at 10 a.m.,” Garuda Indonesia spokesperson Ikhsan Rosan said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
However, the plane kept flying as scheduled, Iksan said, as the pilots were unaware of the threat.
According to Ikhsan, the threatening letter was sent to the office of state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura (Persero) in Surabaya, East Java, as well as Garuda’s ticketing office at the city airport.
The letter warned that the Surabaya-Jakarta flight would explode, advising the airline to check all luggage and cargo for the sake of the passengers’ safety.
The message, Ikhsan said, was received when the plane, carrying 147 passengers, was about to take off from Juanda airport, with no time to warn the pilots.
Fortunately, the airplane landed safely at Soekarno-Hatta airport at 11.35 a.m.
After the plane had landed, a thorough inspection uncovered no hazardous materials on the plane.
The Surabaya Police, meanwhile, had arrested a man suspected of making the threat, Ikhsan went on.
“We have tracked the mobile phone number and confronted the suspect, but he has denied sending the message,” Ikhsan explained.
The police are still investigating the case.
