PRAGUE, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Czech police said Friday that they had charged two students with disorderly conduct after Wednesday's faked shooting incident at a university in the western Czech city of Pilsen.
"We were able to identify yesterday two students at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen as the alleged perpetrators of an act on the premises of the university that could, and did raise, fears among people that a shooting had occurred," the police said in a statement.
One student shouted "Allahu Akbar" (an Arabic phrase meaning "God is the greatest"), and the other made sounds resembling gunshots, according to the police. The two Czech students, aged 24 and 25, were prosecuted out of custody. If convicted, they can face up to two years in prison.
On Wednesday, the police launched a massive security operation involving a rapid deployment unit and a helicopter after receiving a report on the emergency line that a shooting was heard on campus of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. About 1,000 people were evacuated from the campus, and the reported shooting was later not confirmed.
In another statement, the University of West Bohemia said the students now in custody were studying at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Miroslav Lavicka, the university's rector, called their act "reckless and stupid" and said they will have to face the consequences in accordance with the disciplinary code of the faculty where they are studying.
The incident came nearly a year after a tragic shooting at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague, where a student opened fire, killing 14 people and injuring 25 others. Enditem
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