Man in Japan calls in bomb threat because he doesn’t want to go to his own work farewell party

Whatever happened to just faking a stomach ache?

In March, a restaurant in Saga City received a phone call, and when an employee answered it, the voice on the other end of the call gruffly commanded “Go check your entrance.” When the staff did, they discovered a piece of paper with a chilling message written on it:

“I have planted a bomb.”

On this same night, the restaurant had a reservation for a farewell party, in which a group of coworkers was celebrating a colleague who was leaving the organization. Obviously, the restaurant couldn’t tell customers to come on in after receiving a bomb threat, so the party was cancelled, though thankfully no explosives were found, and the threat turned out to be a hoax.

Since the party was supposed to be for a police officer in the Saga Prefectural Police, you might expect the culprit to be someone with a beef against the justice system. Maybe it was a teenage delinquent he’d busted for shoplifting, or the loyal lieutenant of a yakuza boss serving time after the officer put him behind bars. Following an investigation into the matter, though, it was discovered that the bomb threat came from the police officer himself. Why? In his words:

“I didn’t want to go to my farewell party.”

The officer, a man in his 20s attached to the central division of the Saga Prefectural Police, was supposed to be leaving the force at the end of March, meaning he had less than a month to go until he’d be free from all such after-work functions. Apparently one more after-work night with his coworkers was one too many for his tastes, though.

His base motivation isn’t so hard to understand. Work farewell parties can sometimes be unpleasant for the person who’s being celebrated, since avoiding saying anything bad about the job everyone else at the party still has, and also not coming off as bragging about their new job, can make for tense, awkward conversations. Unfortunately for the officer, who has admitted to making the bomb threat, he’s no doubt since had to have many much more awkward conversations since his actions came to light.

▼ “How come you don’t want to work with us anymore?” is still an easier conversation than “How come you threatened to blow up a building?”

The ploy even seems to have extended his time at his job, as instead of reaching the end of his duty period at the end of March, he was given a formal reprimand and resigned on April 30. His case has been referred to the public prosecutor on charges of forced obstruction of business and intimidation, though it’s unclear whether or not his case will go to trial.

So remember, whether you’re dreading going to a work function or simply have a grudge against Nintendo, a bomb threat is never the wise way to solve your problem.

Source: RKB Mainichi Hoso via Yahoo! Japan News via Golden Times
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