Overview
- The evacuation of Terminal 1, which unfolded Wednesday after an unattended backpack was found outside, halted check-in and closed the short-term car park.
- The bomb squad cleared the bag and the terminal reopened about 6:30pm, after 450 arriving passengers were kept on two planes for roughly three hours.
- Police arrested Keiron Beau James Hedges, 57, in Perth’s CBD, and he now faces a charge of making a false aerodrome threat with bail denied pending a mental health assessment on April 28.
- Prosecutors say CCTV links him to the backpack and allege he told staff “I’m going to blow this place up,” while a recorded interview quotes him saying he had been “informed” to warn the public.
- The AFP says it will pursue threats to airport safety under federal law that can bring up to a decade in prison and urges travelers to report suspicious activity to 131 237.