Israeli charged after Newark Airport threat
03/19/2013 01:32
The suspect made a comment that there was a bomb in his bag, says a spokesman for the Port Authority of NY and NJ.
El Al airplanes sit on the runway Photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters
NEW YORK – Tel Aviv native Eran Hess, 44, was charged on Sunday with creating a
false public alarm – a third degree felony – after claiming that his luggage
contained an explosive device as he struggled in transit at New Jersey’s Newark
Liberty Airport.
Arriving in the US from Israel on an El Al flight, Hess
and his family were told that their connecting flight to Miami on United
Airlines 1294 had been overbooked, and that their seats had been taken, but that
their baggage was already on the plane.
Hess then caused a disturbance,
claims the gate agent, furious that he and his family wouldn’t make their
flight.
“The suspect made a comment that there was a bomb in his bag,”
said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The
plane was taken to a remote location of the airport where it was checked. No
bomb was found.
The defendant was eventually apprehended at another
Newark terminal trying to secure a different flight to Miami, where he was
promptly arrested. He has posted $100,000 bail.
Separately, on the same
day and at the same airport, a New Jersey native, Thomas Foley III, 35, claimed
he had a bomb in his shoe. No bomb was found and no motive has been identified
for the threat.