Bomb hoax leads to flight disruption, man held

A Noida-resident triggered a bomb scare in a Dubai-bound Air India flight on Wednesday after he missed the plane at Mumbai, prompting the authorities to declare an emergency at the airport here which after a thorough search found the call to be hoax.

The Airbus A-321, which was on its way from Mumbai to Dubai via Jaipur and Delhi, was halted in the Pink city and thoroughly searched following the phone call saying a bomb was placed in the plane, official sources said.

The call, made to Air India call centre, was traced immediately to a mobile phone with its tower location at Mumbai airport. The person identified as Manoj Bansal was arrested at the Chatrapati Shivaji Airport.

Bansal left security agencies baffled when he disclosed that he resorted to this action because he missed the flight due to traffic congestion in Mumbai.

The plane IC-611 was taken to an isolated bay here after it landed at 1720 hours. The 91 passengers disembarked and a thorough check of the plane and baggage was carried out before declaring the call a hoax.

The aircraft was later declared safe and it proceeded with its onward journey.