The Aerolineas Argentinas flight attendant accused of making a bomb threat that forced her to evacuate and reschedule a flight to Miami, will be questioned by Judge Federico Villena this Tuesday morning. They accuse her of "public intimidation" and "obstruction of public services", as well as "aggravated coercion".
The investigators pointed against her and analyze if the motive was a "revenge" against another member of the crew with whom she would have maintained a relationship "for two months".
Sources of the investigation confirmed to Clarín that this Tuesday they will take a statement from the woman and that she will remain detained until then. The cause, at the moment, is "under summary secrecy," the sources said, although they considered that there is "sufficient evidence" to accuse her of "aggravated coercion" to the pilot to whom she told that "she knew which school her daughters went to."
The identity of the flight attendant has not been revealed by investigators, although her name would have emerged from the account of the other crew members of the aircraft who received the threat on their personal phones.
In total the intimidating message would have been sent to "two or three people", above and below the plane. According to Clarín, he was also received by service line personnel, where passengers check in, before traveling.
The cabin crew member was detained as she returned from her last flight at Ezeiza International Airport on Sunday. There she spent the night and will remain housed until she is transferred to the court of Villena, in Lomas de Zamora.
Clarín accessed the audio that the flight attendant would have sent with a distorted voice.
"
Tell the captain that we put three bombs on Miami [sic]. Stop fucking with politics and check the plane because they are going to fly in a thousand pieces, "is heard in the WhatsApp audio that was sent to the pilot and that unleashed the anti-bomb operation in Ezeiza.
The woman tried to pretend that the threat was due to a union conflict, something that has been ruled out by investigators for the moment.
He fell after Airport Security Police (PSA) personnel detected that he used his daughter's phone to send the threat, something that was quickly tracked.
It all started on Sunday, June 21 in the morning, at the Ezeiza airport, in relation to the flight "AR1304 Ezeiza-Miami" carrying 270 passengers and 12 crew and was scheduled to leave at 7.35. After the bomb threat, the plane postponed its departure for seven hours, a rescheduling that cost the state company a million dollars.
Aerolineas Argentina handled the complaint with caution while the investigation continues. When asked by Clarín, they said: "There is an ongoing investigation so we cannot give information. It should be remembered that Public Intimidation and Obstruction of Public Services are serious offenses. Therefore, if the accusation and the crime are proven, the company will sanction the person investigated in proportion to the seriousness of the fact."
According to official calculations, due to the threat against that flight, Aerolineas Argentinas would have lost one million dollars, between the costs generated by the evacuation operation of passengers and the rescheduling of the departure to Miami.
How was the evacuation operation of the bomb-threatened plane
When the threat became known, the Airport Security Police activated the security protocol and all the people were disembarked from the plane. After confirming that it was a false alarm, the flight was rescheduled for 15 that same Sunday.
A week later, the details of the threatening message that originated that operation are known and that, some versions indicated that it had also reached the phones of "ground personnel of the company", according to the first police version.
The plane had not yet taken off but, due to the bomb threat, the flight was delayed for more than seven hours. It was carrying 270 passengers and 12 crew and was scheduled to depart at 7.35 a.m. that Sunday.
The aircraft was, in the first instance, isolated with passengers and crew on board. Then it was evicted: people began to descend with their hand luggage, and the hold was unloaded to carry out controls with scanners and cynotechnical equipment of the force, with the participation of the Special Group for the Control of Explosives and Special Weapons (GEDEX) of the PSA.
"The Airbus A330 was moved to a safe position, away from the rest of the airport operation that was not affected," police sources explained then.
The bomb operation ended around noon last Sunday with negative results. But for the afternoon flight even had to replace the catering, increasing the cost for the state company.
Now the trigger of the threat is investigated: a sentimental relationship with poorly resolved outcome between two employees of the state airline, controlled by La Cámpora.
DS
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