Librarian Makes Fake Bomb Threat In Order to Make Flight

A librarian has been jailed after calling in a fake bomb threat so he wouldn't miss a flight. Per Reuters, Jacob Meir Abdellak, a Frenchman living in London, called in the hoax eight minutes before his Norwegian Airlines flight was slated to leave Gatwick Airport after staff wouldn't let him on board. The Independent reports officials postponed the flight for 90 minutes in order to screen for explosives following the May 11 call. Authorities reportedly traced the call back to Abdellak's phone. He was arrested on May 22.

While Abdellak first claimed his SIM card was stolen, he has since pleaded guilty to "communicating false information regarding a noxious substance likely to create serious risk to human health" per Reuters. Abdellak was sentenced to 10 months in jail and will have to pay a fine. Gatwick Police Chief Inspector Marc Clothier ridiculed the librarian's decision-making in a statement Thursday. “This was a quite ridiculous decision made by Abdellak, who fabricated an extremely serious allegation purely for his own benefit,” he said. (Nonetheless, Abdellak is not alone in using over-the-top antics in order to make a flight.)