Bomb hoax Briton faces 10 years

A British man is facing 10 years in a US prison after making a false bomb threat to delay a flight.

Ilyas Savas, 33, is alleged to have made a hoax call to give an 18-year-old high school student, who he had met over the internet, time to retrieve her forgotten passport and catch the flight.

Mr Savas, a married father of two from Hackney, was waiting in London to meet Hatice Ceylan from New Jersey.

FBI special agent Jef frey Lampinki said Miss Ceylan had been due to board a flight from Philadelphia to Boston last week from where she would get a connecting flight to Britain.

Mr Savas, a parking attendant, is accused of a making a phone call from London to a hotel near Philadelphia airport with the teenager's knowledge.

The threats caused two flights to be searched and the passengers from one of them to be evacuated.

Days later Mr Savas flew to the US to meet her but was arrested on his arrival. The pair were charged in a federal court in Philadelphia.

At a hearing yesterday judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells ordered both to be held in custody.

They face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a ?275,000 fine if convicted.

Miss Ceylan was due to take part in an arranged marriage said David Kozlow, an attorney for Mr Savas. Mr Kozlow said it was unclear whether there was a romantic relationship between the two defendants, who are both Turkish born.