CEBU CITY, Philippines: A routine security inspection at a university campus turned into a nightmare for a first-year college student after he was arrested for making a joke about a bomb inside his bag.
“There might be a bomb in there, and it might explode,” was what the 20-year-old student jokingly told the security guard, who was checking his bag.
However, the security guard manning the school’s entrance took the 20-year-old student’s bomb joke as a threat and detained him instead.
This happened around 3 p.m. on August 25, at the entrance of the school in Argao town in southern Cebu.
The guard then informed the school’s Student Affairs Office about the bomb joke, and the Dean of Student Affairs called the police, realising the gravity of the situation.
The detained student was then turned over to the police.
Police Staff Sergeant Mark Anthony Dicdican, Argao Police Station investigator of the case, said charges against the student had already been filed on August 26.
Dicdican said the complaint filed was for violating Presidential Decree No. 1727, which penalises the malicious dissemination of false information regarding bombs and explosives.
Police reminded the public that making a bomb joke—whether in airports, public transport, or school campuses — is a serious offence. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
