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Saturday, August 18, 2018, 11:27
Chile: Man angry over suitcase behind wave of bomb threats
By Agencies
Saturday, August 18, 2018, 11:27 By Agencies

Police officers escort Franco Sepulveda off a plane, after he was detained in Antofagasta, for making multiple bomb threats about several airline flights, in Santiago, Chile, Aug 17, 2018. (JAVIER TORRES / ATON CHILE VIA AP)

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean man angry over an airline not returning his suitcase made false bomb threats that caused up to 11 commercial flights to take emergency measures in Chile, Argentina and Peru, authorities charged Friday.

Police said they arrested Franco Sepulveda Robles, 29, in the northern Chilean city of Antofagasta after investigators linked his cellphone to the wave of threats that disrupted flights Thursday. He was brought to the capital of Santiago to begin legal proceedings and was banned from getting close to any airport.

Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said Sepulveda could be charged with security law infringement, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

ALSO READ: Bomb threats force emergency landings in Chile and Peru

Attorney Ignacio Moya, who is representing the suspect, said his client denies making the threatening calls.

Police chief Diego Rojas said preliminary investigations indicated "that this person had planned a flight that left behind his suitcase. They did not return it to him, and since he was annoyed with the (airline) companies and with the entire air traffic control system, it seems like he made these calls."

Several airliners were forced to make emergency landings or turn back to their original airports in Chile and Peru. Other planes had already reached their destination or had not yet taken off.

Victor Villalobos Collao, director of Chile's civilian aviation authority, said Thursday night that a total of 11 calls had been received threatening various airline flights. He said two of the supposed flights did not exist but the calls forced "a procedure" to be carried out for the other nine, without specifying what actions were taken. He said no explosives had been found.

The telephoned threats were made to a ticket counter, a LATAM operations center in Colombia and civil aviation authorities. All the flights were operated by LATAM Airlines, Latin America's largest carrier, and Sky Airlines.

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