Following a red alert sounded to Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata by the ministry of home affairs on March 8, Bangalore witnessed another bomb threat that was – in time – found to be a hoax. However, on this occasion, the object of apprehension was a flight that landed at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) on Friday afternoon.
The flight, identified as Indigo 6E-121 with 140 passengers on board, had taken off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 9 am and reached BIA at 12.30 pm.
According to a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer, it all started when the Delhi office of Indigo received a call at 12.25 pm – five minutes before the flight was scheduled to land at the BIA. “The caller said that there was a bomb planted in an Indigo flight, and it could go off anytime. The Delhi Indigo office alerted their Bangalore counterparts, after which a red alert was sounded across the airport. The pilot was alerted, and the plane was made to land in an isolated spot. After the passengers were evacuated and rushed to an open space, the plane was moved away from the other aircraft. Though no flights were cancelled, a general check was conducted in all the flights that had taken off or landed,” the officer said.
Fear engulfed the airport during the three-hour-long military bomb search operation that followed. “We had to check all the passengers and their luggage. The search took a long time because we had to check the entire place. The dog squad and bomb disposal experts had to be called in. It took us over three hours to confirm that the call was a hoax,” said deputy commissioner of police (north-east division) Basavaraj Malagatti.
According to Malagatti, the caller had not specified the name of the flight ‘carrying’ the bomb. “He only mentioned ‘Indigo’. At that time, there were eight Indigo flights at the Delhi airport, all ready to take off to several places, and one had already reached Bangalore. As they suspected that Bangalore was under a greater threat of terror attack, they alerted us first. The Delhi CISF and police also checked the other eight flights thoroughly. A case has been registered,” he said.
The Delhi police also reportedly detained two passengers, who had arrived late for their Indigo flight to Bangalore. “Though they are interrogating the two, we don’t know their identities,” said Malagatti.
However, deputy commissioner of police (Delhi airport) OP Mishra did not confirm the detention, and stated that nothing of the sort had happened.
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