Mumbling Caller Triggers Bank Bomb Scare

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

BERLIN — A mumbling caller dialed a wrong number and left a panicked German bank employee convinced that a bomb was on its way by express delivery, police said Tuesday.

The man had meant to call a firm in southwestern Germany that repaired pumps, but instead dialed a bank in the eastern city of Chemnitz, police said.

He told the employee who answered the phone that he had sent a pump by DHL and asked for a"diagnosis."However, police said his diction was so poor that the woman believed he was sending a bomb _"Bombe"in German, rather than"Pumpe."

She asked the caller what number he had meant to dial before alerting police _ but missed the last figure. Police figured out what had happened by dialing through variations of the number.

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