A 19-year-old man from Henan Province has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to blow up Shanghai's famous Oriental Pearl Tower.

According to a police news release, the man surnamed Li posted a notice on Internet portal www.baidu.com on July 3 in an Internet cafe Shanghai's Fengxian District, where he did network maintenance for a local IT company.

The notice read: "I am going to blow up the Oriental Pearl Tower. It would be better if you do not visit the Bund. Otherwise, you might lose your life."

The notice did not attract much attention, with only 12 views recorded and no comments made, before it was deleted by website administrators.

Police started their investigation after receiving a report and arrested him days later.

Li admitted to the fabrication immediately.

Calls to Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau yesterday confirmed the arrest.

Li told police that he did it because he was bored and wanted to frighten people. He said he had no intention of following up his threat and regretted his stupid behaviour.

Lawyer Li Xiaohua said Li might face imprisonment. According to the law, fabricating and spreading terrifying information can be punished with up to five year in prison.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved the inclusion of the item in the country's Criminal Law at the end of 2001.

Last month, Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau announced a hard strike on online scaremongering, with two arrested so far.

In 2004, Shanghai Luwan District People's Court sentenced a man to two years in prison for fabricating a bomb threat.

Xu Jun, 28, sent a text message to a policeman eight times in September 2003 threatening two bomb attacks. One of his "targets" was Xintiandi, one of the city's entertainment centres.

(China Daily July 19, 2006)