Security expert confident about WestJet threat investigation

We’re getting a glimpse into how police might go about investigating the person or people responsible for a series of bomb threats against WestJet.

The air carrier has had to deal with five threats in the past six days. The most-recent incident came Thursday night targetting a flight from Las Vegas en route to Victoria. One Air Canada flight also had a similar threat against it.

Security expert Frank Simone told Gormley Friday morning that local police would normally handle such an incident but because there have now been more than two incidents, he believes the RCMP will take over as the lead investigator.

“They’ll take over the investigation and they’ll look for common elements there, whether there’s a pilot, a staff member, a crew member, or a passenger. If not, they’ll start looking at recently-fired employees,” explained Simone, who used to work as a former Toronto Police Service detective.

As that’s happening, he outlined how the source of the calls will be traced by police.

“They’ll know the exact time, the exact second, obtain search warrants from service providers. It’ll take a few days, weeks, whatever but it’ll link back,” he said confidently.

He’s not convinced that all the calls are from the same entity, considering how some threats have been made on domestic flights within Canada and the most recent threat was made internationally. What he is sure of is that someone will get caught.

“Eventually, they’ll get apprehended.”

Simone said the public hasn’t been made aware of whether the threats have been general or specific, however, he’s still praising WestJet for providing just enough details so as not to impede the investigations.

“They’ve handled the situation textbook, kept everybody informed without giving out too much information.”

KMartel@rawlco.com
Follow on Twitter: @KevinMartel