A judge set bond at $1 million Wednesday for a man who caused a massive evacuation when he told security screeners he had a bomb in his backpack at Jacksonville International Airport, authorities said.
Zeljko Causevic, 39, remained silent during his brief hearing before Duval County Court Judge Russell Healey. He was arrested and booked into jail early Wednesday on charges that include making a false report about planting a bomb or explosive and manufacturing, possessing, selling or delivering a hoax bomb, according to an arrest report.
Airport officials said Causevic told screeners he had a bomb in his backpack but they only found a luggage scale with a microchip inside, along with a remote control device he called a "detonator."
"The subject stated, 'I came to the security guard and said I got a bomb in here,'" airport spokesman Michael Stewart said, reading the arrest report. "The subject further explained that inside his camouflage backpack he a device which he said was 'suppoed to be a bomb but it's not.' He described the device as a luggage scale containing two flat round batteries and a microchip inside."
The TSA agents notified authorities and Stewart said Causevic was detained between 5:30 and 6 p.m. The airport was evacuated and flights were stopped before reaching the gates. Passengers were displaced for nearly five hours.
An arrest report indicates that Causevic (below) is originally from Bosnia.
Another person was arrested after officials say he started acting suspiciously but authorities said he was not connected to Causevic.
"The second person was acting suspiciously, they were approached by the police and they were arrested for, I think the report says resisting arrest," Stewart said. "There was no connection with the other individual as determined in the interview by the arresting authorities."
Manuel Rivera, 35, faces a charge of resisting an officer without violence, his arrest report said. He was released Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The airport was back to normal operation Wednesday morning.
Passengers and people who arrived at the airport to pick them up Tuesday evening were stranded for hours as officials investigated.
Authorities said some incoming planes were held up on the tarmac until buses arrived to pick up passengers. The passengers were shuttled to nearby hotels.
Arlie Gentry was on a Southwest flight arriving from New York via Baltimore just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"We moved from one spot on the runway to another spot," said Gentry, who was reached on his cellphone while still on the plane. "They told us we couldn't get off the plane."
Gentry said the pilots initially told passengers they didn't know what was going on.
While the delay was cumbersome and bothersome, Gentry said everyone on his plane remained calm. He said he was never really concerned for his safety, because the plane remained so far from the terminal.
Around 9:30 p.m., a bus arrived to take the passengers on Gentry's flight to a nearby hotel.
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