Intel employee paid friend to call in bomb threat so he didn’t have to go to work

A DRUNKEN Intel employee didn’t want to go to work in the morning so he paid his friend to call in a bomb threat from Islamic State. It was not a good idea.

Supplied Editorial

THE Irish are famous for their drinking but this could be one of the stupidest ideas ever conceived on a boozy night out.

Intel employee Aaron O’Neill, 21, was having such a good time during a drinking session with his mate Colin Hammond that he offered to pay him to call in an Islamic State bomb threat at the company’s offices so he didn’t have to go to work in the morning.

The pair pleaded guilty in a Dublin court Tuesday to making a false report, described as “profoundly stupid” by the judge.

Mr Hammond, 20, told the operator there were bombs located at Intel that would go off in 12 hours.

“You will not find them. This is a warning, we’re everywhere now,” Hammond told emergency services. When asked who was making the call, he replied: “Islamic State.”

The phone call shut down a motorway, disrupted air traffic control and prevented 4000 Intel staff from going to work, reports the Irish Times.

According to Irish authorities, a “conservative estimate” suggests Intel lost 6000 hours of productivity.

Remember that IS hoax bomb threat that evacuated Intel? It was a lad who wanted the day off work so got his friend to ring it in

— Alex Kiernan (@AlexRKiernan) November 24, 2015

The incident occurred on January 13 and the only thing more ridiculous than the idea of calling in a bomb threat is the manner in which they were reportedly found out. A month after the hoax, a taxi driver arrived at a police station in the north Irish town of Balbriggan with a passenger who refused to pay his fare. The passenger was Hammond and an officer at the station recognised his voice from the bomb threat phone call.

Hammond admitted it was him telling police his friend “hates work and I made a phone call so he wouldn’t have to go to work”.

Neither of the two men had any prior criminal convictions and both pleaded guilty to the ill-conceived plot on Tuesday.

Hammond, who maintained he was paid for making the call, was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service in lieu of a two-year prison sentence when his case was initially dealt with in October.

The judge said he had no reason to hand down a different penalty for O’Neill, who will likely receive the same penalty when he returns to court in January.

According to the Irish Times, O’Neill expressed remorse for the plan but said he didn’t think it would be such a big deal.

“It is a very, very strange way to avoid going to work,” the judge said.