British man arrested for Twitter bomb joke

A British man was arrested for making a terror threat after he joked on Twitter that he would blow up an airport, police said on Monday.

Police arrested 26-year-old Paul Chambers on January 13 after he posted a message on the popular micro-blogging site saying he would blow northern England’s Robin Hood Airport “sky high” if his flight was delayed. Police said he has since been bailed pending further investigation.

“I would never have thought, in a thousand years, that any of this would have happened because of a Twitter post,” the Daily Mail newspaper quoted Chambers as saying.

Police said they take misuse of Web sites like Twitter seriously, and will take action to deal with users who cause “unnecessary alarm and distress” to the public.

“Any inappropriate use could cause unnecessary concern and lead to comments being reported to the police,” a police statement said.

Robin Hood Airport said it fully endorsed the police action. “Comments made threatening airport safety are taken extremely seriously at all times,” it said in a statement.