A Finnish tourist was arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat against an airport in Thailand. <br /><br />Jyrki Juhani Virmo, 63, was traced by police after a call from a mobile phone warned of an explosion at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.<br /><br />The tourist was detained when he arrived to check in for a flight to Finland on Wednesday (January 1).<br /><br />Police confronted Virmo about the alleged bomb threat, which he claimed he did to warn officials about security flaws at the airport.<br /><br />But police remanded the Finn in custody on suspicion of breaking the country's Airport Act, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years.<br /> <br />Police Liutenant General Amphol Buarabporn, commander of Provincial Police Region 1, said: ''We waited for the suspect to arrive at a check-in counter at Suvarnabhumi and arrested him before he could depart for Finland.''<br /><br />Amphol described the man as repetitive and confusing in his preliminary interrogation and likened his manner to that of a psychiatric patient. <br /><br />The police chief added: ''The suspect claimed that, on entering Thailand via Suvarnabhumi, he noticed the airport’s security system was faulty and vulnerable to a terrorist attack, so he made the call to warn the authorities. <br /><br />''But the phone call suggests otherwise, pointing to a threat and invoking panic, which is in violation of the Thailand Airport Act and punishable with five-15 years in jail or a fine of Bt200,000-Bt600,000 or both.''<br /> <br />Ampol said police were considering having the suspect’s mental health evaluated before charging him.
