http://www.itv.com/news/1087901.html
British woman in airline bomb joke
8.48PM, 20 Jan 2004
A British woman has been jailed in the US after allegedly telling an airport policeman she was carrying a bomb in her luggage.
Student Samantha Marson has been remanded in custody in a tough Florida jail until she can raise £2,700 bail.
She sparked a full-scale security alert at Miami airport where she was waiting to board a British Airways flight to the UK.
Security staff asked the 21-year-old from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, what was in her rucksack and according to the arrest report, Ms Marson told a Transportation Security Administration screener: “Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here.”
Asked to repeat herself, the student allegedly made the same statement twice more.
She was immediately taken into custody and is being detained in Miami-Dade County Jail. Her next court date is scheduled for February 6.
A Miami police spokesman said: “This is something we take extremely seriously. Talk of bombs is no laughing matter.”
Her father Jim, 75, said: “We are beside ourselves with worry. She phoned at about 3am on Sunday and was hysterical. I’m sure Samantha will accept that it’s a silly thing to say but she’s the sort of girl who might have thought it would make people laugh.”
He continued: “She hardly looks like Osama bin Laden. But now she faces a long time in jail waiting for a trial which is certain to be a farce.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “It is up to US authorities if they decide to arrest someone for making allegations.”
My view? She was bloody stupid.
You can’t say that sort of thing anywhere now; to say it in America would almost classify your subsequent death as suicide.
Ok – she may have said it for a laugh, but to say it three times… Had it been a very nervous security guard and she decided that she had wasted enough time and made to go… Sheer stupidity.
Yes or no?
Flood.
By: Flood - 23rd January 2004 at 22:44
Eh? Saw what???:confused:
Flood.
By: EAL_KING - 23rd January 2004 at 22:43
lol
By: brenmcc1 - 23rd January 2004 at 22:18
Tut Tut Tut if the CAA saw that…
By: Flood - 23rd January 2004 at 19:41
I don’t need to do that, Anna, they do it themselves!
Still Love you!
Flood.
By: Mark9 - 23rd January 2004 at 19:09
Flood have you paid the current lady that called bomb at airport just to keep this thread going:p Naughty boy:D 😀 Anna;)
By: plawolf - 23rd January 2004 at 18:58
“Is this the silly season or something? “
you never know, maybe its a new virous that attacks the human nerveus system and make them say the word ‘bomb’ involentarily, a desease spread by air travel. 😀
By: Flood - 23rd January 2004 at 17:07
The stupidity continues…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3424037.stm
Woman arrested at airport
A woman has been arrested at Newcastle Airport after telling check-in staff she had a bomb in her luggage.
Police said the incident happened at about 1330 GMT on Friday as the woman arrived to check in for a flight to Paris.
The 48-year-old woman from South Tyneside is due to be questioned later.
In a statement, Northumbria Police said: “Around 1330 GMT, a 48-year-old woman from South Tyneside arrived at easyJet check-in intending to board a flight to Paris.
“Because she arrived late she was not allowed to check in and then made a threat towards staff that she had a bomb in her luggage.
“She has been arrested and will be questioned later.”
Documentary team
There were no delays reported at the airport.
In a statement, easyJet said: “easyJet can confirm that, following an incident at the easyJet check-in at Newcastle International Airport at about 1330 GMT today, a woman was arrested by Northumbria Police.
“Northumbria Police have already confirmed that the woman commented that she had a bomb in her luggage after arriving late for check-in for the EZY6425 flight to Paris due to depart at 1355 GMT.
“easyJet has always taken a zero tolerance approach towards any threat to the safety of its staff, aircraft or passengers and it is standard easyJet practice to alert the police in the event of any such incident.”
The incident was recorded by a documentary team making a fly-on-the-wall film about the airline.
Is this the silly season or something?:confused:
Flood.
By: plawolf - 23rd January 2004 at 13:35
“Please don’t tell me that you believe the US media is the only one that is “heavily edited TV news reports”.”
so what if everyone does it? if everyone smoked would it mean that smoking is good for you? :rolleyes:
the point i was trying to make is that although all new channels edit TV couvarage for varying reasons, few nations and ppl have been as well ‘insolated’ from the true meaning of war and carnage as the US has.
even the vietnam pics and films that shocked a whole generation of americans were highly selective and only showed fraction of what was really happening. now such a degree of freedom is not allowed on the ‘mainstream’ new channels like CNN and the BBC. news channels like ali-zazera are criticised for showing pics.
it is because of this self created and imposed reality that the US is so deeply shocked and distressed when that ‘reality’ was so tragically shattered.
By: Sauron - 23rd January 2004 at 04:40
Please don’t tell me that you believe the US media is the only one that is “heavily edited TV news reports”.
Sauron
By: plawolf - 22nd January 2004 at 14:20
“”heavily edited TV reports” ???????”
please dont tell me u beleive u get to see everything that happens in the nightly news.
By: MINIDOH - 22nd January 2004 at 11:38
Optimator, that was a war with the aim to gain peace at the end. America and the UK and our allies were not trying to expand the size of the countries/ take over countries. Germany wanted a war, and we gave them one. Sept 11th was different. That was Osama Bin Ladens followers trying to get rid of Christianity and help ‘Allah’ or the person whom they worship. It was a terrorist act, not a war. For a terrorist act it was a huge loss, and I agree in terms of if it was a war it would be a small number compared to other wars, but it wasnt a war.
Also, the allies had no option in WWII but to take lots of casualties. What would you have done? That was the only option, unless you wanted to loose the war.
By: Sauron - 22nd January 2004 at 03:00
“heavily edited TV reports” ???????
Sauron
By: plawolf - 22nd January 2004 at 01:34
“What they are not used to is taking casualties.
Three thousand deaths in one day is terrible, but one has to put that into the context of WW-II Germany suffering an average of 14,500 deaths a month, from the air, for the 57 months they were at war. Or Russia, or…….”
well with all due respect, but this is not WWII. even in WWII, the US military had been willing to take thousands and thousands of casaulties over very little territory.
what really made 9/11 so devistation to the americans is a combanation of the massive loss of life and the fact that the flames of war had touched the US homeland for the first time in centuries.
before, all the american public’s impressions of war and ‘carnage’ were the ever more heavily edited TV news reports. but now this self imposed protective ‘bubble’ has been shattered in the most brutal way, and americans are now finding in really hard to finally see what the real world is like. and i suppose a little paranoia is to be expected.
just hope not too many ppl get hurt during the american ‘transitional’ period.:(
By: optimator11 - 21st January 2004 at 23:49
Plawolf,
“guess the yanks are just not used to doing security checks at airports.”
What they are not used to is taking casualties.
Three thousand deaths in one day is terrible, but one has to put that into the context of WW-II Germany suffering an average of 14,500 deaths a month, from the air, for the 57 months they were at war. Or Russia, or…….
By: MINIDOH - 21st January 2004 at 23:40
Honestly I believe she should be locked up in prison for up to a year. Maybe this will stop others from making such stupid remarks. She wants her head screwing on correctly, and I dont blame the Americans one bit for not wanting her back in the US. I dont want her back here in the UK. Stupid bit**.
By: plawolf - 21st January 2004 at 22:31
“So, if you’re in a US terminal and you see your old buddy Jack, refrain from jumping up and saying,
“Hi …….Jaaaaaack.””
lol, nice one.
🙂
guess the yanks are just not used to doing security checks at airports ATM. before 9/11, u can practially walking onto a plane with MP5s and no one will be bothered. now they are just not sure how to do the job properly without going overboard. hopefully they’ll learn with time.
By: optimator11 - 21st January 2004 at 22:08
So, if you’re in a US terminal and you see your old buddy Jack, refrain from jumping up and saying,
“Hi …….Jaaaaaack.”
By: Mark9 - 21st January 2004 at 13:14
Thats naughty girls for you wicked and twisted:D 😀 😀 😀 Anna:D
By: kev35 - 21st January 2004 at 09:34
To use a good old black country phrase “‘er needs ‘er yed ‘ommerin!”
Age is not a factor in this. At 21 she should have more common sense and if it is true that she repeated the statement several times that just compounds the problem. Suicide bombers in the past have been female and considerably younger.
“In America they are very jittery because they still haven’t got used to the idea that not all the world likes them; under those circumstances they will throw goat herders and taxi drivers in a prison thousands of miles away because there is a slim chance they might have shared a shell hole with bin Laden.
But I digress…”
Flood’s right in what he says here and this isn’t going to change any time soon. America will be hit again, as will many other countries, including I expect the UK.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a terrorist airport threat where the perpetrator has been daft enough to try and walk through a security cordon whilst gleefully announcing the deadly contents of his/her rucksack.”
True Ren. But it is only a matter of time before a suicide bomber walks into a terminal building and blows themselves up. It’s a soft target which would result in many casualties, especially now that many of these buildings are predominantly made of glass. I think terrorism and paranoia are part and parcel of today’s society and we have to make allowances for that.
I have no sympathy for her. She was said to be travelling home to renew her visa to stay with her boyfriend who is in the US Navy. That’s not going to happen now is it?
Regards,
kev35
By: Ren Frew - 21st January 2004 at 00:17
Whilst I can’t condone the girl for her dumb remark, you have to wonder about a security system that can’t see the difference between an actual terrorist threat and a 21 year old girl taking the ****.
I don’t think there’s ever been a terrorist airport threat where the perpetrator has been daft enough to try and walk through a security cordon whilst gleefully announcing the deadly contents of his/her rucksack.
As ever with these stories, I imagine the girl’s remarks were taken as gospel by a “text book” security process. I’ve already said, she should have known better, but I suspect that “knowing better” is a lesson the security forces should learn as well ?
Wasn’t it just last week when a girl with a heated biker jacket was removed from a Delta flight at CDG because of a protruding wire ? She wasn’t even on the plane but it was still escorted over the NY coastline by F-16’s.
I may be speaking out of turn, and respect to those involved in the whole post 9/11 situation, but I think paranoia may becoming a little bit as much of a problem as actual terrorism, or are they part and parcel ?
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January 20, 2004 at 10:46 pm