Kalaburagi airport in Karnataka receives bomb threat email

Image used for representational purpose only

The Kalaburagi airport received a bomb threat via email on Monday, which was later confirmed by police to be a hoax after a thorough search operation.

Bomb disposal units and dog squads were promptly deployed to the airport premises in response to the threat.

According to news agency PTI, Kalaburagi Police Commissioner Chethan R said that airport director Chilaka Mahesh received an email from an anonymous sender this morning, alleging that explosives had been planted within the airport grounds.

"As soon as we received information about a bomb threat email at Kalaburagi domestic airport, a bomb disposal squad was dispatched. All the passengers on the flight (which landed from Bengaluru) were de-boarded," he said.

All the airport staff and passengers were shifted to a safer place while an intensive and thorough search operation was carried out, he added.

After hours of search operation, the police declared that the threat was a hoax as no "suspicious" object was found.

"An email was received at 6.54 am claiming five bombs were kept in the bathroom of the terminal building. Immediately, we alerted the state mechanism, bomb disposal squad, state police, central intelligence bureau...we also conducted a bomb threat assessment meeting and immediately, we vacated all the passengers from the building," Mahesh was further quoted by PTI.

"As soon as the flight landed from Bengaluru, it was pushed into an isolation bay and all passengers and their luggage were also screened and taken via the operational gate," he said.