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Geneva airport bomb hoaxer faces 90,000-franc bill

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Geneva airport bomb hoaxer faces 90,000-franc bill
The fake bomb threat sparked a massive police operation at the airport in July. File photo: Richard Juilliart

The Frenchwoman who sparked a massive security alert earlier this summer by claiming there was a bomb at Geneva airport is facing a 90,000 franc bill for her actions, according to reports.

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The 41-year-old married mother of four anonymously called Swiss customs on the evening of July 26th to say a woman carrying a bomb would be at the airport the following day.

Geneva police took the information seriously and launched a huge security operation that caused major disruption for travellers.

In the meantime the phone call was traced to a house in Annecy, France, where the caller lived.

Questioned by police, the woman then admitted she had made up the bomb threat in an act of revenge against her husband’s alleged mistress, who was travelling from Geneva airport that day.

At a court hearing later that week the hoaxer, described by her lawyer as an “injured woman” who had been married for 22 years, said she only wanted to get revenge on her rival and “hadn’t calculated the consequences” of her actions.

In addition to the three months’ prison sentence handed down in July, the woman will now receive a bill for 90,000 francs from Geneva police, Swiss media said on Friday, reporting information received by Le Matin.

Geneva police chief Francois Waridel said the amount “corresponded to 145 police officers working at 100 francs an hour as well as the cost of meals, drinks and two police dogs”.

In total the bill covers 880 hours of work between the evening of July 26th and the following afternoon, said the paper.

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