Man arrested at Philippines airport after joking about a bomb in his luggage

Falling foul of the country’s ‘Anti Bomb Joke Law’ could result in up to five years in prison

Airport security is not the place to crack a joke (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An American man was arrested at Tuguegarao City Airport in the Philippines on Thursday after joking about having a bomb in his luggage.

According to a local police report, George Adrien Favarielle from New Jersey was arrested after cracking the joke as a member of Cebu Pacific staff inspected his luggage.

“Despite explaining that the American was only joking, the airport police arrested him and took him to the Tuguegarao City police headquarters,” Tuguegarao police chief Major Junvie Velasco told The Manila Times.

Whether the comment was a clear joke or not, it violated the Philippines’ strict “Anti-Bomb Joke Law” (full name Anti-Threat Jokes Act of 2014).

Congressman Erlpe John M. Amante introduced the law with the note: “It may be a joke, but a bomb joke is no laughing matter.”

Those who break the law face fines of more than 40,000 Philippine Pesos (£590), and potentially a jail sentence of up to five years.

Favarielle got off lightly with a 30,000 Peso (£444) fine before being allowed to leave police custody.

According to a local website, Favarielle had been travelling with his wife, with whom he was set to travel back to the US that day.

He’s not the only person to get into trouble with police for joking in an airport.

In 2018, Trevor Davies of American football team the Green Bay Packers was arrested after joking that he had packed explosives in his luggage at Los Angeles’s LAX Airport.

When asked by a Hawaiian Airlines staffer if he had any explosives in his luggage, Davis responded “Yes.”

“Did you pack the explosives?” he bantered with his travelling companion before security removed him.

Davies was arrested, booked into LA County Jail and charged with making a bomb threat at an airport - though charges were later dropped.

In February 2019, a Canadian woman was arrested on an Air Canada flight preparing to leave Florida, for quipping “There’s a bomb in it,” about a bag protruding from the overhead cabin.