Doctor in trouble for “jokingly carrying C-4 explosives”

A 60-year-old doctor, Manuel Alvarado got himself into trouble for cracking a joke that a bomb was in his luggage at the Miami International airport. That joke caused a partial evacuation of the airport. That joke too has cost him a fine of almost $90,000.
 

His lawyer, Brian Bieber, said Alvarado’s action prompted costly evacuations and delays for airlines, and brought out a police bomb squad.
 

While about to board an Avianca flight to Bogota on October 22, a security officer had asked Alvarado a routine questions only for the Venezuelan doctor to respond that he was carrying C-4 explosives.

He corrected himself, saying that he was just joking but it was too late. 

“He is extremely remorseful. He had no intent to place anyone in fear. He made what turned out to be the worst mistake of his life,” Bieber said.

Alvaro will pay the fine in a deal that saw prosecutors agree to drop charges of making a false bomb threat and criminal mischief. Once he has paid, the surgeon can return home, the attorney added.

Since the September 11, 2001 strikes on US targets, penalties for making bomb threats have become increasingly severe.