Suspect arrested in 2015 bomb threats against Atlanta flights

More than two years after bomb threats sent via Twitter led the military to scramble fighter jets to escort planes to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a suspect has been arrested in the United Kingdom.

The FBI in Atlanta released a statement Thursday saying an individual was arrested April 13 for making the threats in January 2015.

As a result of the threats, a Delta flight from Portland, Ore. to Atlanta and a Southwest flight from Milwaukee Wis. to Atlanta were searched by a bomb squad at Hartsfield-Jackson on Jan. 24, 2015.

The threats “resulted in the deployment of significant resources including the use of military jets to escort the planes to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and searches by a police bomb squad and the FBI that found nothing threatening,” according to the statement from FBI Atlanta spokesman Stephen Emmett.

The person on the Twitter account called himself “King Zortic” when he posted the messages to Delta saying: “I have a bomb on one of your planes, but I forgot which one when I left the airport. Can you help me find it?” and referring to a flight from Portland to Atlanta.

Another tweet read: “It was smuggled through one of the back entrances because the airport didn’t have much security around one of the entrances so the bomb is at the back of the plane. Everyone will known when it’s detonated.”

A later tweet sent to Southwest read: “A bomb was placed on SWA2492. It will be detonated at a random time of my choosing.”

At the time, a Twitter spokesman told the AJC that the company may disclose a user’s account information to law enforcement in response to a valid emergency request.