41 airports get hoax bomb calls

New Delhi, June 18

From Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore International Airport, several airports across the country on Tuesday received bomb threat emails, prompting security forces to remain on high alert.

Officials confirmed that as many as 41 airports across India received bomb threat emails on Tuesday.

The series of threats began with a Dubai-bound plane receiving a bomb threat via email, ahead of its take off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi. The plane, which had 286 passengers from Chennai, was thoroughly checked by security personnel. The flight was scheduled for departure around 10.30 am on Tuesday, officials said.

Following inspection, the officials found no bomb and the threat turned out to be a hoax. The flight was then cleared to proceed to its destination. Then in Rajasthan, a thorough investigation was conducted by security agencies at Jaipur International Airport after it received a bomb threat email. The threat email was received by the airport management, following which police and the CISF searched the premises.

Bihar’s Patna Airport was the next such facility to receive a bomb threat via email, following which the authorities conducted an extensive search and security was also beefed up. This mail, too, turned out to be a hoax.

Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore International Airport also received a bomb threat via email on Tuesday, following which security was beefed up at the complex.