Venezuelan doctor to pay $90,000 fine for false bomb threat

At Miami International Airport a fake bomb threat cost a Venezuelan neurosurgeon almost $90,000 after he told security officials he was carrying C-4 explosive in his checked luggage.

Manuel Alvarado, 60, will pay the airport and five carriers for three hours of delays that resulted from his ill-advised words, his lawyer Brian Bieber, said on Tuesday. 

"He made a facetious statement with absolutely no comedic value," Bieber said on Tuesday.

According to the Miami Herald, an Avianca agent asked the standard question if he had explosives in his luggage. Alvarado replied "C-4." The agent then asked if that was a type of gun and Alvarado told him it was an explosive.

Alvarado, who was boarding a Bogota, Colombia-bound flight on Oct. 22, quickly apologized but was arrested and later released on a $50,000 bond, according to Bieber.

In exchange for the money, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of criminal mischief and making a false bomb threat. Once it's paid Alvarado will be permitted to return home.