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No comment on investigation
St. Maarten – The investigation into the bomb threat at Princess Juliana International Airport last Friday is in full swing, but the prosecutor’s office declined to provide any information. Insiders estimate the damages the threat caused to be around $150,000.
“In the interest of the investigation I cannot make a single statement about this case,†press prosecutor Karola van Nie told this newspaper yesterday.
It remains therefore unclear whether the bomb threat was made in a phone call to the police or to the airport. The prosecutor also declined to say whether it is possible to trace such a call.
No comments were forthcoming either about the magnitude of the damage the bomb threat has caused in terms of police deployment, delayed flights, the rerouting of incoming flights and productivity loss at the airport for the time staff was unable to work.
A source familiar with the airline industry, who asked not to be named, estimates the damages linked to the bomb threat at around $150,000 – if not more.
Robert Brown, the special projects coordinator at the airport, told this newspaper yesterday that efforts are underway to prepare a report about the damages.
Air traffic control rerouted inbound flights to Puerto Rico and Antigua. The measure affected flights from Delta Airlines, Air France and Liat.
The KLM flight 785 arrived at the airport from Curacao 25 minutes after the bomb threat was made.
