Saturday bomb threat to Tallinn airport made from prison
Estonian police have established that a bomb threat made to Tallinn Airport around midday on Saturday was made by a man serving a prison sentence calling from a prison payphone, reported the regional prosecutor's office.
"It goes without saying that threats like this undermine society's feeling of security, therefore law enforcement bodies obviously take an extremely serious approach to threats like this," spokespeople quoted district prosecutor Natalja Vester as saying. "By now the suspect has been identified and procedural acts are underway, in the course of which we will also determine why the suspect committed this act."
A man speaking in Russian phoned in a bomb threat to Tallinn Airport at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday. The caller claimed that a bomb had been planted on board the aircraft about to take off from Tallinn for Paris. He also said that there were explosive devices located elsewhere in the airport's territory as well.
By Saturday afternoon it was established that the bomb threat was made using a prison payphone and that the caller was a man serving a sentence in that prison. The suspect is to face allegations pursuant to the section of the Penal Code on aggravated breach of public order.
A representative of the Ministry of Justice told ETV news broadcast "Aktuaalne kaamera" that prisoners are permitted to make calls from public payphones during specified times, and that the details surrounding the prisoner's call were being investigated.
Following the phoned-in bomb threat, all departures of flights from Tallinn were halted, the airport's public areas were evacuated and a bomb squad commenced searching the premises. The squad completed its search shortly after 2p.m. without having found any items posing a threat, after which people were allowed into the airport's public spaces again and passengers who had had to wait on board their planes after landing were finally allowed into the terminal.
A criminal procedure is being led by the North District Prosecutor's Office and conducted by the Police and Border Guard Board's North Prefecture.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS, ERR