KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 ― A foreign woman was arrested at the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas yesterday after she cracked a joke about having a bomb in her bag.

Barat Daya district police chief Supt Kamarul Rizal Jenal said the 33-year-old woman who works as a factory operator in Ipoh, Perak, was nabbed at 4.30pm.

"When the staff at the check-in counter inspected her bag, the woman said loudly ‘there is a bomb’, which was heard by the staff and other passengers nearby.

"The woman and her two friends were scheduled to board a flight to Medan, Indonesia, at 5.30pm,” he said in a statement tonight.

The suspect has been remanded for two days until tomorrow and the case is being investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation. ― Bernama