Hoax bomb threat triggers panic at Kanpur airport, accused arrested

Panic gripped the Chakeri Airport in Kanpur briefly on Friday after it received a hoax call threatening to blow up a 72-seater flight.

Police have arrested a 21-year-old man identified as Mohit Singh, who confessed to making the "prank call".

According to ACP Sumit Sudhakar Ramteke, an airport staff named Satendra Singh received the hoax call, in which the caller claimed that a bomb had been planted on a 72-seater aircraft which would explode upon landing.

Alarmed by the call, a bomb disposal squad along with an anti-sabotage check (ASC) team searched the airport premises, but nothing suspicious was found, the officer said.

A surveillance unit with the assistance of local police traced and arrested the caller, Mohit Singh, a resident of Yashoda Nagar locality in the city, within two hours, Ramteke said.

During questioning, Singh admitted that the threat call was a prank.

"Singh has been booked under the relevant sections of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita," the officer said.