Afraid of missing flight, late passenger makes hoax bomb threat call at RGI airport, arrested
Panic gripped the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGI Airport) today, February 20, after airport authorities received a bomb threat call. An unknown caller raised the alarm by informing the authorities that the Chennai-Hyderabad flight had a bomb.
The airport security immediately swung into action and searched the flight, evacuating the passengers. After a thorough check, it was discovered that the caller had raised a false alarm about the bomb.
The airport authorities informed the police to investigate the passenger who made the fake bomb threat call. The police started the probe and arrested a person in connection with the hoax bomb threat call.
During the initial investigation, the person confessed to making the call, stating that he did it to delay the Hyderabad-bound flight because he was running late and was afraid of missing it.
A Chennai-Hyd flight today received a hoax bomb threat call at RGI International airport. The airport security checked the flight evacuating the passengers. The hoax call was made by a passenger as he got delayed to catch the flight. Accused passenger taken into custody: Police
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2023
A case has been lodged against the passenger and further investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, an IndiGo Airline’s flight 6E 6191, which was bound to Odisha’s Deograh from Delhi, was diverted to Lucknow and made an emergency landing following a specific bomb threat.
The Lucknow airport was alert about the situation before the landing and after a thorough check, the flight was cleared to takeoff again to reach its destination.
Giving information of the incident, IndiGo said, “IndiGo is following the rules of the security agencies in the probe.”
Last month, the Ahmedabad airport received a call claiming that Alliance Air's flight no. 91696 had a bomb. However, after officials checked the flight, the bomb threat call appeared to be fake. The flight was bound for Delhi from Ahmedabad and was about to take off.
On January 21, a chartered flight bound for Goa from the Russian capital, Moscow, was also diverted to Uzbekistan following a bomb threat.
Also Read: IndiGo Delhi-Deogarh flight diverted to Lucknow after ‘specific bomb threat’
First published: 20 February 2023, 17:47 IST