A plane of a private airline was taken to the isolation bay at the Kolkata airport on Tuesday afternoon for a thorough security check after a passenger was suspected of carrying a bomb, officials said.
The passenger was detained after he told the airline's security officer that he had a bomb, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said.
The 26-year-old passenger, travelling to Mumbai from Imphal with a stopover in Kolkata, made the comment during the step ladder point check, a secondary-level security procedure under which airline staff frisk passengers and their hand luggage just before boarding, he said.
"The passenger's claim was declared specific, security was beefed up, and standard operating procedure (SOP) implemented," he added.
The passenger arrived in Kolkata by an Indigo flight and was supposed to take another flight of the same airline to Mumbai.
Out of the total of 186 passengers who were supposed to take the flight to Mumbai from Kolkata, 179 had already boarded, the official said.
The flight was supposed to depart for Mumbai at 1.30 pm, but it was delayed as the aircraft was vacated and taken to the isolation bay for a thorough check, he said.
In a statement, the airline said, "IndiGo flight 6E 5227 operating from Kolkata to Mumbai received a bomb threat prior to departure. In accordance with security protocols, the aircraft was moved to an isolation bay at Kolkata airport.
All necessary checks were conducted, and the standard operating procedures were followed." Security has been strengthened at all airports in the country following the India-Pakistan military conflict.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
