Security was stepped up at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) after the police received threatening calls and messages on Sunday. Investigations revealed the call to be a hoax and efforts are on to identify the caller, said the police.
On Sunday night, the inspector of the airport police station received a call on his official phone from a man warning him “to be careful about flights landing at KIA that night on Monday evening and night”. The caller spoke in Hindi and sounded inebriated. He claimed he had demands, which if unmet would jeopardise the safety of passengers. A few hours later, the inspector received messages on WhatsApp, but this time in Kannada.
“Initially, the call was dismissed as a prank, but after receiving the messages, the terminal manager at KIA was alerted. The manager sounded an alert and held a meeting with the bomb threat analytical committee to carry out standard operating procedures and take up precautionary measures,” said a senior police officer.
The police and the airport tactical team carried search operations to secure the airport before concluding that it was a hoax.
The airport police have launched a probe to track down the accused. “The call was generated from Chennai. We suspect that the caller might have a personal grudge against the inspector and wanted to settle the score by troubling him,” said a senior police officer who is part of the probe.