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Eulalio Felipe Orama, a man of Cuban origin living in Houston, Texas, was arrested this Wednesday at Miami International Airport after uttering the word "bomb" during the boarding process of a flight.
The comment, deemed inappropriate by authorities in a high-security environment, triggered an emergency operation that included the evacuation of passengers and the deployment of specialized units, according to local news.
The incident occurred around 2:00 p.m. at gate D60-E, related to American Airlines flight 3963 heading to Houston.
According to the arrest report, Orama, 49, was informed by airline agents that he would need to check his carry-on baggage due to a lack of space in the overhead compartment.
At that moment, while answering standard security questions, he said in an apparently sarcastic tone: "A bomb doesn’t fit inside the bag."
An employee who witnessed the scene confirmed that Orama seemed annoyed by the request to search her bag and that she used the word "bomb" in that context.
As a result of that comment, the security protocol was activated immediately.
The passengers were disembarked and the authorities conducted several inspections with explosive detection dogs, both on the passengers' luggage and in the surrounding area and on the aircraft.
All the tests came back negative.
Orama assured during the interrogation that it was a misunderstood joke.
Nonetheless, his comment was deemed serious enough by the authorities to proceed with his arrest and legal prosecution.
The judge assigned to the case is David Young, from the Miami-Dade County circuit.
In these types of environments, authorities warn, jokes related to explosives are not tolerated and are treated as real threats, regardless of the initial intent of the author.
Orama was detained at the boarding gate, taken to the airport police station for questioning, and subsequently entered the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK).
He was given a bail of $1,000, according to his police record.
The man faces charges for filing a false report regarding the placement of a bomb or explosive, a second-degree felony under Florida state law.
This type of offense carries penalties that can include up to 15 years in prison, fines of up to $10,000, and the inability to access benefits such as "withheld adjudication," meaning the conviction cannot be removed from the defendant's record.
Furthermore, the applicable statute allows the court to order the defendant to cover the costs arising from the emergency response, including the deployment of security personnel and public resources.
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