Bomb threat at Kolkata airport beefs up security; turns out hoax after thorough search
Times of India | 27 April 2024
KOLKATA: Security was beefed up at Kolkata airport on Friday following a bomb threat alert received by the airport manager on his email that said there was a bomb planted at the airport and that it would blow off by 12 noon.
Following the alert, all agencies involved in the thorough screening of the airport were immediately pressed into service who continued the search till late in the day but it turned out to be a hoax as nothing was found.
“We didn’t find anything suspicious despite a rigorous search. We are now trying to locate the source of the mail and are tracing the IP address to find out the sender,” said Aishwarya Sagar, DC Airport division of Bidhannagar City Police.
Sources said the mail sent at 11.42 pm read a bomb was planted at Kolkata airport along with three other airports in the city including Mumbai and that they will blow off together by 12 noon. The mail even read that the men behind the Rameshwaram Café blast in Bangalore were behind the blast.
Incidentally, two suspected terrorists involved in the Bangalore blast were arrested from Bengal earlier this month and it was found that the two along with a third aide had stayed in Kolkata for several days hopping from one hotel to another.
A senior airport official said all necessary SOP was followed and security screening was beefed, but the passengers were not harassed at any point of time. “The mail had mentioned that the bomb was there in the airport. So, we followed all the emergency SOP and ran a detailed search of the terminal but at no point passengers were unnecessarily harassed or inconvenienced. Flight movement didn’t hamper too,” said the official.
Earlier this month, a young man in his 30s was apprehended after cops traced him making a suspected prank call at the Kolkata airport on Wednesday afternoon warning the airport manager that a major accident may happen at the airport any time. The airport manager had immediately informed the NSCBI airport police station who launched an investigation and traced the call to Barasat and apprehended the man at night. Cops had said the man seemed unstable.