An Intel Employee Wanted To Avoid Work So Bad, He Planned A Fake Bomb Threat
...and cost his company 6,000 hours of production!
By Sadho Ram — 25 Nov 2015, 03:27 PM
However, an Intel employee thought that excuse might not cut it.
So the 20-year-old sub-contractor "hired" his friend, Colin Hammond, by paying him to make a hoax bomb call to his company.
As a result of the hoax bomb call, a motorway was shut down, air traffic was disrupted and 4,000 Intel staff were prevented from going to work. Moreover, it cost Intel 6,000 hours of production!
Here's what happened exactly:
Aaron O'Neill and his friend Colin Hammond had been out drinking the night before. Aaron, who didn't want to go to work the next morning, decided to trick his way out of it. He paid Colin to make the call from a payphone outside his home.
Colin told the operator there were bombs located at Intel which would go off in 12 hours, adding: "You'll not find them. This is a warning, we're everywhere now."
When asked who was making the call, he replied: "Islamic State."
The telephone box at the front of the Lambeecher Estate in Balbriggan, Fingal, Ireland, in which the hoax bomb call was allegedly made to Intel.
Image via Independent.ieWhen did this happen?
While there are media reports circulating right now, the incident originally happened on 13 January 2015. Back then, 300 employees were forced to leave Intel and a further 3,700 staff were prevented from entering the site.
Then why is this news doing the rounds now?
Because Aaron O'Neill was only arrested in March when he admitted that it was his idea, and later the case was adjourned for sentencing till October.
While Aaron said that he was sorry, he didn't think it was going to be a big deal. Back then Judge Martin Nolan had said that he intended to impose 200 hours of community service in lieu of two years in jail if both Aaron and his friend Colin were deemed suitable for this.
Judge Martin Nolan was told that Colin was not the brains behind the operation and he didn't have any substance abuse problems
Colin's lawyer asked the judge to be as lenient as possible as Colin is "gullible and open to suggestion", to which judge Nolan had commented that "every day presents a new surprise in this court."
"I thought I've heard very asinine tales, but this (case) surprises even this court. Colin has demonstrated he's profoundly stupid with his behaviour, that's the only thing he's done," judge Nolan had said.
In October, Colin was ordered to carry out 200 hours community service.
And what about Aaron?
According to a report in the Independent.ie, on 24 November, Judge Nolan said he saw "no reason to depart from the same sentence" for Aaron but adjourned the case to January 2016 to get a report from the Probation Service to see if he was suitable for community service. He said, "to put it politely" it had been a misconceived plan and accepted that the men hadn't envisaged the calls to have the effect they did.
"It is a very, very strange way to avoid going to work," Judge Nolan commented.
So chances are just like his friend Colin, Aaron too will be ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service in January 2016
