A South Korean man has been arrested for allegedly threatening via an e-mail to blow up Air China planes, which forced a passenger jet to return to Japan last week and caused delays for four other flights, Japanese police said today.
Lee Hyon-sa, 33, was arrested yesterday, police spokesman Satoshi Idonuma said. Kyodo News said Lee turned himself in to police in Kanagawa, west of Tokyo.
"He allegedly sent the e-mail to Air China's office in Tokyo from his computer Friday," Idonuma said.
"The e-mail threatened to blow up Air China planes unless the company halted all its flights. It also threatened to force its planes to crash onto Olympics sites."
The e-mail was written in Japanese. Idonuma declined to give further details because the case was under investigation.
The bomb threat forced one Air China plane to return to Japan. The airplane was carrying 70 people from Nagoya to Chongqing via Shanghai. Four other flights were also delayed due to the threat. But all the five planes took off late Friday after police found no bombs on the aircraft.
The Japanese government said it has instructed all airlines flying between Japan and China to carry out maximum safety checks during the Beijing Olympics.
