[coop71]

Why didn’t the school treat it like a bomb threat if it appeared to be a bomb-like device?

[silverleaf]

He was suspected of making a hoax bomb which is against the law
Ahmed wanted to impress his school with a fake bomb
The cops couldn't get any other reasonable explanation of why he built the thing and brought it to school
so Eddie Mohammed Haskell got hauled down to the precinct
Like pulling a fire alarm, calling in a bomb threat or
Like making hijacking jokes on an aircraft

[Berlin_Freeper]

The issue became if the device was an intentional bomb hoax.