Hoax call sends IGI into tizzy

A hoax call about a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight sent the security apparatus at the Delhi airport into a tizzy for a few hours today, officials said.

A staffer of the Indigo airlines informed the security authorities that they had received a call at about 8:15 am from an unidentified man, who said there was a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight, the officials said.

The mandatory meeting of the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was immediately convened at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), which declared that it was a "hoax" call after about two hours, they added.

However, the BTAC directed the CISF, police and other security personnel at the IGI airport to step up their vigil, undertake full physical checking of hand baggages and an in-depth checking of passengers of the Mumbai-bound flights.

The airlines operating services to Mumbai were also asked to conduct secondary checks on suspicious passengers and the entire cargo was screened minutely, the officials said.

"Anti-sabotage checks of the airport area was also carried out and the profiling and surveillance of the terminal and passengers was also increased," a senior official said.

Efforts were on to trace the source of the hoax call, the police said.

Meanwhile, a Dubai-bound IndiGo aircraft carrying 184 people from Mumbai made an emergency landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) today, following a smoke alarm from its cargo hold, which later turned out to be false.