For some inconceivable reason, some people still think it’s okay to make bomb jokes—whilst aboard planes—in this day and age.
A passenger was pulled off a Garuda Indonesia flight from Papuan city Timika to Denpasar on Monday afternoon when he made the ‘joke.’
Identified by initials WH, the man was asked by another passenger on the flight why his bag was so heavy.
“Because the bag seemed heavy, (the passenger) asked WH, ‘What do you have in your bag?’
“WA immediately and spontaneously responded: ‘Bomb,’” Papua Police spokesman AM Kamal said in Jayapura on Monday, as quoted by Antara Bali.
While the other passenger may or may not have been amused by WH’s ‘joke,’ flight attendants who overheard the exchange were most certainly not.
Even though no explosives were actually found in the man’s bag during a search and WH did apologize, saying he was only joking, he was still taken from the airport to local police for questioning.
“WH was immediately removed by field supervisors from the aircraft cabin and reported to Timika Airport Police headquarters related to his statement that he was carrying a bomb,” Kamal said.
“We hope flight passengers refrain from saying things that can disrupt flights,” he added.
“Bomb jokes” happen more often in Bali than you would think. In March 2017, a Saudi man was forced off a Lion Air flight in Bali before takeoff—the tasteless joke even caused delays at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport. In January 2016, a man flying from Makassar to Bali was arrested before he even boarded for trying to make a bomb joke with an airport security officer—turns out the ‘jokester’ was a policeman.
