Greek police has arrested a 16-year-old “prankster” for a bomb threat at a Metro station in western Athens. It is the first arrest of this kind, although dozens of similar threats phone calls have been made in the last decade.
The 16-year-old boy was arrested on Holy Monday, April 10, in Megara village of western Attica.
The boy had made a threatening phone call a day earlier about placing a bomb at the Aegaleo Metro station, which turned out to be a hoax.
The “prankster” had called from a payphone in the central square of Megara to the Greek Police Direct Action call center, claiming that a bomb had been planted at the Aigaleo metro station.
A police patrol car rushed to the scene, while the identification of the caller was easy and led to his arrest. He was taken to the local police station and shortly after he was released with a verbal order by the prosecutor.
It is noted that the Aegaleo station was not closed after the threatening phone call, as has happened many times in the past, which shows that the police probably immediately understood that it was a hoax, hence the immediate arrest of the perpetrator.
According to website athenstransport.com, threatening phone calls concerning the Aegaleo Metro station amounted at least 22 and led to the temporary closure of the station from November 2010 to July 2020. The majority of them it concerned the years 2015-2018, though.
Within the last three years, the station was closed due to similar phone calls in July 2021 and again in May 2022. Threatening phone calls involving other stations, such as the Panormou station last October, are much rarer.
However, the fact that the arrested person is only 16 years old, with the police immediately tracking him down, realizing that it was a prank and not a real threat, makes it extremely unlikely that he himself is behind most of the previous calls, also considering his young age, the website noted adding it would certainly be interesting to know why the Aegaleo station was chosen in this case as well.
In any case, the police have reason not to ignore most telephone threats of this kind. On February 25, 2012, a Metro conductor discovered an incendiary device that had been placed in a Metro car at Aegaleo station, which was then the terminal of Metro line 3. The responsibility was then taken by a new organization (which has not reappeared since then) while there had been no warning phone call, which means that the perpetrators possibly wanted victims.
The arrest of the minor last week may discourage some “pranksters” from carrying out similar nefarious acts, the website commented.