|
Man admits SMS bomb hoax
22/08/2005 15:44 - (SA)
Kuala Lumpur - An Indonesian man faces jail after admitting to sending hoax messages to Malaysian police in which he claimed to be an al-Qaeda member warning of a hijack and bomb plot, said a report on Monday.
The 23-year-old, named Kurniawan, admitted sending the (short-messaging service) SMS messages to police in northern Penang state earlier this month, in which he said bombs would explode at an airport and a shopping complex there.
Bernama news agency said that one message read: "Hello, I'm one of al-Qaeda member. I want to tell you about Libenny. He is on his way to the Penang International Airport.
"He wants to put a bomb there and then hijack the Lion Airlines. I don't want to see any incident in Malaysia. I love Malaysia."
Kurniawan 'face up to 4 year in prison'
In another SMS, he said bombs had been placed at a Penang shopping complex and two other locations in the city.
Court officials told Bernama that Kurniawan, who had not disclosed the motive behind the hoax, faced up to four years in jail for offences including causing public disorder. He was due to be sentenced on October 5.
Malaysia announced plans last week to register millions of pre-paid mobile phone subscribers to prevent the untraceable handsets being used to send threatening or slanderous SMS text messages.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also recently called on Malaysians to stop rumour-mongering through SMS and lambasted people for abusing the technology.
|
News
