KOCHI: Two flyers who arrived at Kochi airport on an Air India Express (AIE) flight from New Delhi were taken into custody after they allegedly wrote a bomb threat on a paper napkin and left it inside the plane on Thursday.
The napkin with the threat ‘Blast while taking off’ had been placed inside a seat pocket and was found during routine cleaning of the plane around 8.30am.
A 40-year-old native of Manjoor in Kottayam and a 33-year-old Kanhangad resident have been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita over the incident.
The napkin was recovered from the pocket of seat 14B. A bomb threat alert was issued and AIE security staff along with officials of the airport carried out an inspection.
“The entire aircraft was checked and no explosives were found. The authorities contacted AIE officials in New Delhi who said no such tissue paper was found during the cleaning work done in New Delhi before the flight left for Kochi,” a police officer said. The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BATC) held a meeting around 9am and decided to follow the protocol when a bomb threat is received.
“A probe revealed that two friends had occupied seats 14B and 14C. They were stopped at the airport and their luggage checked. It was found that they had changed their dress after landing at the airport,” said an officer. The duo was questioned for hours, after which their handwriting was checked.
“It was confirmed that the hoax threat had been written by one of them. The BTAC declared the threat as specific and directed the police to register a case against the two. They confessed that they committed the offence without realising its seriousness,” said a police officer.
Duo released on bail by night
The two were taken to the Nedumbassery police station and released on bail by night.
They have been booked under BNS Sections 351(1) (threatening with intent to alarm people), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 3(5) (multiple people working together to commit a crime), as well as Kerala Police Act Section 118(b) (knowingly spread rumours or give a false alarm) and 120(o) (causing nuisance).