Prison for Fake Bomb Call (1/12/05 - Philly Airport June 2004)
PHILADELPHIA-January 12, 2005 — A British man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for calling in a phony bomb threat in what authorities say was an attempt to prevent a friend from missing her plane at Philadelphia International Airport.
Prosecutors say Ilyas Savas phoned a hotel at the airport last June and claimed that someone was planning to stash bombs aboard two American Airlines flights – one from Philadelphia to Boston and a second from Boston to London.
Investigators said they later learned that Savas called in the threat from his home in Hackney, England, at the request of an 18-year-old friend from New Jersey who was due to leave Philadelphia on the plane. She had realized that she did not have her passport and wouldn't be allowed aboard.
The plan, prosecutors said, was to delay the flight with a bomb threat
The friend, Hatice Ceylan, lived in Edgewater Park, New Jersey and attended Burlington High School. She also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on February second.
City to discuss cause of blasts
By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com
January 14, 2005
The Indianapolis Fire Department plans a 2 p.m. news conference today to explain what the agency believes was responsible for a series of underground explosions over a nine-day period in late December and early January.
Officials with Indianapolis Power & Light will also discuss the utility's progress towards inspecting electrical cables throughout the Downtown area.
"The fire department is going to discuss its findings, and IPL is going to talk about our action plan, and the details of that will be at the press conference," said Crystal Livers-Powers, a utility spokeswoman.
Three explosions since New Year's Eve have rocked parts of Downtown, although it's unclear if all three are related. Experts have speculated that the cause of the blasts was related to the three-week-long bout of snowy and rainy weather.
Since the most recent explosion last Saturday, Livers-Powers said 960 manholes Downtown have been checked, and with extra help from out-of-town crews, things are going so well they will expand the project to check all 2,095 manholes in the Mile Square.
More details will be announced later.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/9/209379-5319-102.html