16 May 2016

Civil servant detained in Papua after 'bomb joke'

4:40 pm on 16 May 2016

Officials at an airport in the Indonesian region of Papua have detained a civil servant after he allegedly joked about carrying a bomb while boarding a Garuda flight to Merauke.

The Jakarta Globe reports Papua Police spokesperson Commissioner Parige confirmed it occurred early on Saturday morning.

He says Victor Hatigoran, who works for the Merauke regional administration, was about to board at Sentani Airport in Jayapura when a Garuda aviation security officer asked him about his cabin baggage.

The allegation is that he answered that he was carrying a bomb, and further clarified later that he had a type of pastry called a "cake bomb".

He was then taken to the security room for further interrogation and security checks on his belongings.