Harsher punishments for hoaxers
By Bob Yang |
May 22, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Hoax callers who target civilian flights will face harsher punishments in future, China's Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.
In a notice it issued, the ministry asked that local security authorities "treat such incidents as criminal cases from now on," instead of as "common cases of public order administration."
The ministry said two suspects, an unemployed migrant from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a man in Jiangsu Province, had been arrested for making false bomb threats that disrupted a number of flights last week. The threats came in the form of anonymous phone calls to airports and airline offices.
The ministry said the hoaxes severely disrupted civilian flights.
The range of punishments under China's criminal law and civil aviation law are the same - anyone who intentionally disrupts flight operations by fabricating threats can be jailed for up to five years, or more if the actions have severe consequences.
Judges will treat cases brought under the criminal law more severely.
Five flights operated by China Eastern Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines were targeted by bomb threats last Wednesday. The airlines received calls between 8am and 9:30am saying there could be bombs on flights to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen departing from Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Xi'an and Lanzhou.
Four flights already in the air were ordered to return or were diverted. The fifth flight was still on the ground.
A 26-year-old suspect caught the next day is said to have told police he wanted to take revenge on society because he had been punished many times after committing crimes.
A day later, 11 flights to Shanghai were disrupted after airports in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing received bomb threats. A 43-year-old man was arrested.
Last July, a Chinese man was jailed for 14 months after he called Pudong International Airport claiming he had planted a bomb on an Air China flight.
In a notice it issued, the ministry asked that local security authorities "treat such incidents as criminal cases from now on," instead of as "common cases of public order administration."
The ministry said two suspects, an unemployed migrant from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a man in Jiangsu Province, had been arrested for making false bomb threats that disrupted a number of flights last week. The threats came in the form of anonymous phone calls to airports and airline offices.
The ministry said the hoaxes severely disrupted civilian flights.
The range of punishments under China's criminal law and civil aviation law are the same - anyone who intentionally disrupts flight operations by fabricating threats can be jailed for up to five years, or more if the actions have severe consequences.
Judges will treat cases brought under the criminal law more severely.
Five flights operated by China Eastern Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines were targeted by bomb threats last Wednesday. The airlines received calls between 8am and 9:30am saying there could be bombs on flights to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen departing from Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Xi'an and Lanzhou.
Four flights already in the air were ordered to return or were diverted. The fifth flight was still on the ground.
A 26-year-old suspect caught the next day is said to have told police he wanted to take revenge on society because he had been punished many times after committing crimes.
A day later, 11 flights to Shanghai were disrupted after airports in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing received bomb threats. A 43-year-old man was arrested.
Last July, a Chinese man was jailed for 14 months after he called Pudong International Airport claiming he had planted a bomb on an Air China flight.
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