Calabasas Man Held on False Bomb Threat

An Egyptian man living in Calabasas was arrested on suspicion of telephoning a threat that a bomb was aboard a plane bound from Los Angeles to the Persian Gulf, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said Monday.

Because the threat was made on the 911 emergency number, which displays any caller’s location to the dispatcher, deputies went to the alleged caller’s apartment and arrested him within minutes, said sheriff’s spokesman George Ducoulombier.

Shaker Famy Rezk, 37, told a dispatcher at the Malibu Sheriff’s Station Sunday that a bomb had been placed aboard “Flight 750” at Los Angeles International Airport en route to the Middle East, Ducoulombier said.

Investigation revealed that no such flight existed, he said.

Rezk, who listed his occupation as “preacher,” was booked at the Malibu station on a felony charge of filing a false bomb report, said Sgt. Tom Pitkin. He was held Monday in lieu of $50,000 bail pending arraignment Thursday.

Deputies forced their way into Rezk’s apartment on Lost Hills Road and arrested him without incident after he refused to answer the door, Pitkin said. A search of the apartment by sheriff’s arson investigators uncovered no explosives, Pitkin said.

Rezk told authorities that the bomb threat was made by his Jordanian cousin, who he said fled the condominium soon after making the call, Pitkin said. However, a subsequent voice analysis matched the 911 caller’s voice with Rezk’s, Pitkin said.

At the condominium complex, little was known about Rezk except that he has lived there about six months and rents his unit from a private owner, said an executive of the condominium management company, who declined to be identified.

Authorities said Rezk’s telephone service had been turned off for unknown reasons, restricting his phone to 911 emergency calls.