Briton gets 4 months for triggering bomb scare

Dubai: A British passenger will spend four months in jail for triggering a bomb scare on an Emirates flight as a joke and beating two Chinese passengers under the influence of liquor.

The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 37-year-old British accused, M.Y., guilty of terrorizing passengers and endangering the aircraft's safety while it was flying between Manchester and Dubai after he claimed that he would blow up the plane within seven minutes.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir also fined him Dh1,000 for consuming alcohol. He will be deported after serving his punishment.

When he appeared in court earlier, the accused admitted that he joked when he claimed that he carried a bomb.

"I said there is a bomb, but it was just a joke ... I didn't mean it," argued M.W. who also pleaded guilty to consuming liquor during the incident.

He told the judge that he develops anxiety and when he consumes liquor he suffers from constant worry.

Salim Mohammad Al Qaidi, senior public prosecutor who questioned the alleged prankster, charged the Briton with beating and injuring two Chinese nationals, Y.Y. and O.J., and consuming liquor.

When he was confronted with the assault charges, M.W. dismissed those accusations and pleaded not guilty. He told the judge that the two Chinese were the ones who assaulted him and he defended himself.

The accused, who appeared in court without a legal representative said he couldn't obtain the medical reports that confirm that he suffers from anxiety and gets worried when he drinks.

A 32-year-old Lebanese stewardess testified: "Two minutes prior to landing, Y.Y. came up to me and she was panicking. She told me in a trembling voice that the suspect told her that there is a bomb. I headed towards him and noticed that he was holding two mobile phones in his hands and pretended to be pressing the buttons."

The witness claimed that one of the passengers told her not to worry because the suspect was joking.

O.J. stated that he saw the accused pressing on the cellphones in his hands and saying 'a bomb will explode'.