French national nabbed for bomb joke

Airport policemen filed charges against a 66-year-old Frenchman yesterday for repeatedly joking about carrying a bomb inside his bag Wednesday night.

Michael Christian Joseph Brionne, who owns a bar in Makati City, was nabbed after he told a stewardess, identified as Ma. Charisma Cabarles Roballe, that his bag contains explosives.

Chief Inspector Jonathan Galang, chief of the 1st Police Center and Aviation Security (PCAS) of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), said the incident happened at around 11 p.m.

Brionne and his Filipina wife, Prescilla Damay, were already on board a Cebu Pacific plane bound for Bangkok, Thailand when he cracked the joke.

"The stewardess told him to move his big black bag from the floor to the overhead bin," Galang told The Star in an interview.

"He responded by telling the stewardess not to take the bag away from him because there was a bomb inside," he said.

Galang said the stewardess asked Brionne to repeat what he said three times and when the latter gave her the same answer thrice, the captain, members of the ground staff, and airport security were alerted.

Airport authorities were forced to stop the plane from leaving. All passengers were asked to leave the place so the police could do a bomb search.

It took more than three hours before the authorities allowed the 124 passengers to board the Boeing 757, which did not leave Manila until 2:20 a.m.

Galang said Brionne was arrested and charged for violating Presidential Decree 1727 (false bomb threat) before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office.

The French national, who later apologized for joking about a bomb, is facing a possible jail term of two to six years.

Galang said members of the cabin crew and a passenger who heard the suspect talking about a bomb in his bag signed sworn affidavits and will testify against him.

While in police custody, the suspect said the stewardess did not hear him right because he allegedly said the bag contains a "a bunch of flowers" and not "a bomb."

Brionne’s bag eventually yielded nothing but personal effects and other non-threatening items since he and his wife were on their way to a vacation.

Galang noted that whether it’s a joke or not, talking about a bomb inside a plane and anywhere else inside the NAIA is prohibited.

"We have signages posted in various places in the terminal. They can’t claim they didn’t know," he told The Star, reminding the public against making the same mistake.

Galang said Brionne, being married to a Filipina, has spent a lot of time in the Philippines and can understand and speak Filipino. – With AFP