Young man might face jail for a bad joke

A young man risks serving five years in prison because of a bad joke. He announced that one of the planes in the air was mined, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the press service of the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA), Veaceslav Negrescu, aged 21, native of Singureni village, Rascani raion, call from a mobile phone the Chisinau International Airport announcing that one of the planes in the air was mined. At that time, 9.20 pm, there were four aircrafts in the air – two were flying to Istanbul and Moscow and another two were returning from Budapest and Moscow. In order to carry out a thorough specialised control the planes that had to land at the Chisinau Airport were forced to stay in the air for over 20 minutes. The damage is estimated at 10,000 lei. The officers of the Police Air Transport Commissariat within the police transport Division of MIA have announced alarm and put into effect the specialised plan “The Mine”. In cooperation with the Aeronautics Security they succeeded to establish that the alarm was false. The author of this “joke” was found in three hours. He was caught at home where there were also traced several munitions. The young man testified to the police that he made a number of calls from his mobile telephone. He said that he did not know that such a joke can have so serious results. Criminal proceedings are initiated against Veaceslav Negrescu under the article 287 of the Penal Code of Moldova. The origin of the munitions is to be established. The punishment for “hooliganism” prescribes jail terms up to five years.