Pinoy couple held in HK over bomb joke

A couple from the Philippines was taken off a Manila-bound flight and held in Hong Kong yesterday after they made a joke about having a bomb in their luggage, a Philippine official said.

Joselito and Sarah Daza had just boarded a Cebu Pacific flight when the former "alleged that his luggage had a bomb," said Manila international airport security chief Angel Atutubo.

The couple were forced to get off the plane and are being held and interrogated by Hong Kong police at the Chek Lap Kok airport there, Atutubo said in a television interview.

The Cebu Pacific plane however was able to take off and arrived here on schedule, he added.

Atutubo said that if the couple are allowed to return to the Philippines, he would also have them interrogated to find out why they made the joke. He said they would probably have to pay a hefty fine at Hong Kong for the incident.

According to a report that reached him, Atutubo said that flight 5J-111 was preparing for takeoff and its passengers were tucking into their respective seats when a flight steward approached the male Daza asking him to put a bulky bag he had with him in a baggage compartment.

In reply, Daza made the apparent joke that he had a bomb in the bag prompting the flight steward to report the remark to the flight’s officers who then had to alert the Hong Kong control tower. — Rainier Allan Ronda, AFP