American Airlines received a very interesting tweet yesterday from a 14-year-old teenage girl who identified herself as “Sarah”. The tweet was not very specific about what the teen planned to do however seemed very threatening in this post-9/11 world. The teen’s tweet read “hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan. I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I’m gonna do something really big bye”. American Airlines responded to the threat with “Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.”
Turns out, as many expected, American Airlines was not bluffing. Netherland authorities arrested the girl earlier today. It has been reported by Police spokesman Roland Ekkers that the girl had turned herself into Rotterdam police. The girl arrived at the police station with a parent, and is currently being interrogated.
After tweeting the threat to American Airlines the teen seemed to quickly realize what she had done and began to post some frantic tweets. These tweets however appeared along side others bragging about the number of followers she had gained.
American Airlines has since removed it’s response to the teen, however issued a statement to the Huffington Post: “The safety of our passengers and crew is our number one priority. We take security matters very seriously and work with authorities on a case by case basis…”
It is unclear what will happen to the teen who is now receiving worldwide attention. This whole matter allows at least one universal human truth to continue: doing something very stupid will make you famous.