Man arrested over London tube station bomb threat

A man accused of going on to the tracks at London's Charing Cross tube station on Friday and falsely claiming to have a bomb was arrested by police and detained under the Mental Health Act.

British Transport Police (BTP) said officers were called "after receiving reports of a man on the tracks claiming to have a bomb". The 38-year-man's claim sparked panic and led to the evacuation of people from the station, the Guardian reported.

"Both the underground and mainline stations were evacuated as a precautionary measure and a cordon was put in place whilst officers dealt with the incident," said a BTP spokesperson.

The man was detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act and taken to a place of safety, said the spokesperson. No weapon was found and no injuries were reported.

There was a brief disruption to the mainline and London Underground services, but later all started running normally.

According to BBC, there were dozens of armed counter terrorism officers at the scene with shields and machine guns.

--IANS

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