RIGA — Despite claiming the stunt was a success, mobile phone operator Tele2 is facing the wrath of the Interior Ministry for organizing the meteorite hoax in northern Latvia.

The Interior Ministry said it was going through all its telecommunications contracts with Tele2 to determine which it could cancel without incurring penalties. Spokesman Andrejs Rjabcevs said the ministry hoped to have a final estimate by Wednesday.

In an interview with Latvian television, Interior Minister Linda Murniece called the incident “a mockery” and said she didn’t want business with a company that conducted public relations projects at the ministry’s expense.

Tele2 officials are still proud of the stunt claiming that they achieved their goal — to draw international and domestic attention away from Latvia’s economic crisis and focus on something “more interesting.”

The company said it hoped the Interior Ministry would not overreact. Tele2 said it would cover all the government’s expenses for handling the hoax — which included police, fire and rescue service, and the armed forces — a bill that amounts to around 15,000 lati (€21,500).

Murniece said this encompassed funds for police, firemen and the group of scientists who visited the site in Mazsalaca region not far from the Estonian border. Police officials, however, said that they are still calculating the total bill. Meanwhile, Fire and Rescue Service authorities are still seething and on Tuesday said they would ask police to open a criminal investigation.

A criminal case is unlikely, Ilze Ungure, a spokeswoman for the State Police, told Baltic Reports.

“There’s no article in the criminal code that they have violated,” she said.

A Tele2 spokeswoman said that the stunt was created a while ago together with a local PR agency. She said nine people dug the crater, while the special effects were created using chemicals.

It’s too early to tell whether the hoax will have done more harm or benefit to Tele2, a Latvian subsidiary of the Sweden-based telecommunications company. Reactions on the Internet seemed mix, with many people praising the stunt’s ingenuity.

The story of the meteorite landing spread throughout the world yesterday raising eyebrows in its wake.