The 27-year-old showed up late at the Verona airport on Thursday and the ground personnel for airline Air Dolomiti told him he could no longer board the flight. That prompted the tardy hack to call the police to say there was a bomb onboard the plane.

The fake threat closed air traffic at the airport for several hours while the bomb squad checked out the airplane. But shortly after his anonymous call to the police, the German journalist went back to the check-in counter to say he had heard the plane was no longer preparing to take off.

Since no public announcement had been made on the departures board as to the flight’s status, the man quickly became the prime suspect for the bomb threat. His mobile phone then confirmed police suspicions and he was arrested.