Cops want six months in prison for bomb threat at airport

Defence says prankster was “just trying to be funny”

Senior prosecutor Sonja Hedegaard from Copenhagen Police is asking for six months behind bars and a travel ban for the two Greek businessmen who on November 18 made what they said was a joke about a bomb in a suitcase at Copenhagen Airport.

The lawyer said that the two men, aged 33 and 65, caused serious fear and a threat to the life, heath and welfare of the passengers at the airport.

Taken seriously
The airport was evacuated and closed down to traffic for more than two hours because the men had joked there was a bomb in aperson’s suitcase and that he was in fact one of the wanted terrorists from the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris a few days before.

“Taking everything into account, there is no question that laws were violated by the statements made,” argued the prosecutor. “These are adult and educated people and there is no doubt that the SAS employee felt the situation was very serious.”

Hedegaard said that the police and airport security could not take any chances and had to investigate the ‘joke’ as if it was serious.

“The defendants are too old for this,” she said.

A stupid remark
Hedegaard wants both men sentenced to six months in prison and to be banned from traveling to Denmark for at least six years.

Both of the accused pleaded not guilty. One of their lawyers, Mikael Bernhoft, stressed there was no premeditation, rather a stupid and thoughtless remark made in a failed attempt to be funny.

READ MORE: Norwegian teen sentenced to prison and deportation for bomb threat

A judgement in the case is expected later today.




  • Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    China’s 12 leading wind turbine makers have signed a pact to end a domestic price war that has seen turbines sold at below cost price in a race to corner the market and which has compromised quality and earnings in the sector.

  • Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Novo Nordisk’s TV commercial for the slimming drug Wegovy has been shown roughly 32,000 times and reached 8.8 billion US viewers since June.

  • Retention is the new attraction

    Retention is the new attraction

    Many people every year choose to move to Denmark and Denmark in turn spends a lot of money to attract and retain this international talent. Are they staying though? If they leave, do they go home or elsewhere? Looking at raw figures, we can see that Denmark is gradually becoming more international but not everyone is staying. 

  • Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen attended the Association of the Unites States Army’s annual expo in Washington DC from 14 to 16 October, together with some 20 Danish leading defence companies, where he says Danish drone technology attracted significant attention.

  • Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors, pharmacies and politicians have voiced concern that the pharmaceutical industry’s inability to supply opioid prescriptions in smaller packets, and the resulting over-prescription of addictive morphine pills, could spur levels of opioid abuse in Denmark.

  • Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Residents of cooperative housing associations in Copenhagen and in Frederiksberg distribute vacant housing to their own family members to a large extent. More than one in six residents have either parents, siblings, adult children or other close family living in the same cooperative housing association.


  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.