Italian nabbed at airport for joke on nukes, bin Laden

Manila airport police on Wednesday arrested a 59-year-old Italian man after joking he was carrying nuclear bombs and was a follower of Osama bin Laden. Chief Superintendent Atillano Morada, director of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG), said Italian national Fabrizio Salvani remarked that he was carrying three nuclear bombs and was allied with the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network while being frisked by security personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City, Metro Manila. Salvani was supposed to board a Cathay Pacific flight on Wednesday evening. The PNP-ASG on Thursday morning filed a case against Salvani before a Pasay court for violating Presidential Decree 1727, the law against making false bomb threats. Joking about bombs is strictly prohibited in the country’s airports and airliners, with signs prominently warning passengers against it displayed in terminals. Earlier this month, actor John Estrada was held by airport police in General Santos City for joking that he was carrying a bomb in his luggage. Last February, airport authorities arrested a 66-year-old French man for reportedly joking inside a Cebu Pacific airplane that he had a bomb in his carry-on luggage. The French national, Michel Christian Joseph Brionne, was charged before a Pasay court but denied making the bomb joke, saying he was misheard. -GMANews.TV