Former flight attendant arrested for bomb threat to airlines

Manila: A former flight-attendant-turned-travel-agent was arrested for sending an emailed threat to bomb commercial planes.

Janette Alano Tulagan was accused by an airline company of sending threatening messages to them through her mobile phone, prompting authorities to raid her residence in Quezon City last Friday, local media reports said.

According to Chief Superintendent Marni C. Marcos Jr., head of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), the airline company notified authorities sometime in July that they had received an anonymous message from email address abubakarsahid@yahoo.com warning that a number of their aircraft will be bombed.

The sender, a person who claimed to be a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, sent the message: “Allah hu akbar! All flights Manila to Kuala Lumpur will have a bomb on board on July 13.”

A check by authorities on the IP address of the source of the message led them to the mobile number registered to Tulagan as the origin of the threatening communication.

On Friday, authorities, armed with a search warrant, swooped down on her residence and arrested her and seized her mobile phone, modem and other communication devices.

These will be used as evidence against her.

The Philippines has strict laws against issuing bomb threats under Presidential Decree 1727 or “Threats Concerning Bombs” in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Such forms of intimidation can lead to life imprisonment of the offenders.

There had been a number of instances when mere utterance of the word “bomb” aboard a commercial aircraft or before a flight, had landed passengers in detention, or were even criminally charged.

Authorities are still trying to determine Tulagan’s motive for carrying out the threats but reports said that an arrest warrant had been filed against her earlier because cheques issued by her had bounced.

Reports also said that the threat was issued against Saudi Arabia Airlines, although this could not be independently confirmed.

In her LinkedIn profile, Tulagan identifies herself as a former flight attendant for Saudi Arabia Airlines.

Tulagan is now being held at the PNP-ACG detention facility in Camp Crame in Quezon City.