A major security alert that caused Geneva airport to step up armed security on Wednesday was caused by a bomb hoax made by a woman who did not want her husband to leave.
As Geneva police informed passengers of heightened checks on Wednesday morning, officers carrying sub-machine guns were busy carrying out urgent security operations around the airport in Switzerland’s second largest city.
It has now emerged that police were acting on an anonymous tip received by Swiss customs on Tuesday, which claimed that a person carrying a bomb would enter the French sector of the airport
According to Swiss prosecutors, security authorities were able to trace the call to a house in Annecy, approximately 41 kilometers south of Geneva. Following a police raid at the French address, a woman admitted to making the false threat to "prevent the departure of her husband."
"Yesterday in the evening, a woman called Swiss customs at Geneva airport. She said that today a person carrying a bomb would be in the French sector of the airport," the Geneva prosecutor's office said in a statement. They found the woman admitted to having made the call and explained that she wanted thereby to prevent her husband from leaving," the statement said
Criminal proceedings against the unidentified woman have been opened by both French and Swiss prosecutors. Police had warned earlier that there would be an “indefinite period” of reinforced security.
During the scare, armed police could be seen manning entrances and perimeters put in place to protect terminal. Authorities have since released a statement saying the preventative controls would be gradually lifted over the course of the day.
More photos from the scene...
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