‘YOU NEED TO DELAY IT’

London Man Tried to Delay His Flight by Reporting Fake Bomb Threat: Police

Rashidul Islam, who’s been sentenced to 16 months in jail, reported the fake bomb threat because he was running late, Sussex police said Friday.

A London man who admitted he called in a fake bomb threat to delay a flight he was running late for has been sentenced to jail and banned from Gatwick airport, police said Friday. Rashidul Islam, 32, was sentenced to 16 months in jail after calling authorities about the fake bomb on a May 4 flight to Marrakech. Authorities said Islam had public transportation issues and made the call because he was worried he was going to miss his flight to meet his fiancée, according to a statement from Sussex police on Friday.

“EasyJet flight 8897 leaves in 40 minutes,” Islam told an operator in an anonymous call, according to police. “There may be a bomb on the plane, you need to delay it, you need to stop it now.” While airport security evacuated all 147 passengers and crew on the flight, Islam arrived at Gatwick airport to check-in—when authorities realized his number matched the one for the anonymous call. After being taken into custody, authorities said Islam admitted he made the call to catch his flight.