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2nd LD Writethru: Arrested man says bomb threat on Russian passenger jet joke: Swiss media

Xinhua, October 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Russian national who was arrested by Swiss authorities at Geneva Airport after claiming a bomb was on board a Russian passenger plane has admitted that "the threat was fake and meant as a joke."

The Aeroflot plane was evacuated and searched Thursday afternoon after a man presented himself at an airline counter claiming that a bomb was onboard the Moscow-bound plane, local media Swissinfo reported.

Flight 2831 was preparing to take off from Geneva Airport but was subsequently grounded shortly before 1:00 p.m. in light of the threat.

The Russian airline company Aeroflot later said in a statement that passengers would be transferred to another aircraft for the journey.

A Geneva prosecutor's spokesman indicated that there were 115 people on board and that a criminal investigation has been opened.

The plane was due to leave Geneva for Moscow at 12:35 local time. Geneva Airport has since confirmed in a statement that traffic is back to normal. Endit