Dozens of twitter users have sent threats to American Airlines after a 14 year-old Dutch girl tweeted the air company telling them she was a member of Al-Qaeda and that she was “going to do something really big,” on June 1.
One user, @ShyyLicious, said “I have a bomb under the next plane to take off,” another, @ddlovatosteddy, said “I’m gonna bomb your 737 jet,” while @nonfreak tweeted “release her or I’ll bomb your HQ. You gonna arrest me now?” All the threats were hoaxes.
Latest fad: Stupid teens tweeting bomb threats to airlines - http://t.co/PLlANme610pic.twitter.com/mOPS718Nnt
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) April 14, 2014
The girl, who gave her name as Sarah, immediately said the tweet was a joke after being contacted by American Airlines, who said it “takes these threats very seriously” adding that the issue would be passed on to the FBI. The American carrier lost two of its aircraft on September 11, 2001, when 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists carried out an unprecedented attack on the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Dutch girl who threatened AmericanAirlines with terrorist attack arrested by Rotterdam police. pic.twitter.com/NHtIpPXQsM
— PzFeed Top News (@PzFeed) April 14, 2014
She had initially claimed to be Ibrahim from Afghanistan and a member of a terrorist group, but quickly admitted it was a joke after learning of the seriousness of the matter, which unfortunately also led to over a dozen pranksters also sending American Airlines threats.
However, there were plenty of twitter users who were aghast at the Dutch teenager’s actions. User @rupertagnew condemned her tweet saying, “Yesterday I said @QueenDemetriax_ is the dumbest person on twitter. Well now she's been arrested by dutch police LOLZ”…
A number of the tweets have since been deleted, including the teenage girl’s account. According to BNO News, she was identified as being from Rotterdam and brought to a local police station. She was taken into custody and charged with making a false report.