Asked to pay for extra baggage, woman cries ‘bomb’, detained

MUMBAI: Asked to pay for excess baggage at the international airport in Mumbai, a homemaker threw a fit and announced that her bag contained a bomb. She was immediately detained by the CIS F and later handed over to Sahar police. A search of her baggage revealed nothing untoward. A court subsequently released her on bail.
The woman is in her forties and lives in South Mumbai with her husband and two children. Her husband is a businessman. On May 29, she was scheduled to fly to Kolkata to meet her mother.
She reached the SpiceJet baggage check-in counter around 5. 30pm and asked for a boarding pass.
She handed over two bags to the counter executive to check-in. The airline rules permit a single bag for domestic travel and the maximum permissible weight for luggage is 15kg. But the woman was carrying two bags andthe total weight was coming up to 22. 05kg. The executive then explained to her that her baggage was over the p ermissible limit and she would be re quired to pay charges. But the woman refused to pay.
“She started to yell and picked up a fight with the executive. I asked her to calm down and tried to explain airline rules to her. But she was in no mood to listen and started to argue with me as well,” said another airline executive in her statement to the Sahar police. The two executives started to speak to each other in Marathi, which infuriated the woman even further. She accused them of harassing non-Marathi speakers. By then, CISF inspector Muthu Kumar arrived at the check-in counter. The executives explained what ha d happened and also informed their supervisor over the phone.
After Kumar had introduced himself to the woman, she suddenly said, “I have a bomb. ” Given that the airport is an iconic installation and every threat is taken seriously, the CISF inspector called the dog squad. But the sniffer dogs found nothing suspicious in her bag. By then, security officers and supervisors with SpiceJet had arrived. One of them dialled the Mumbai police emergency number ‘100’ and relayed the information.
Sahar police registered an FIR against the woman on charg es of ‘endangering lives and safety of others’. As it was post-sunset, she was not taken into custody as per procedure. She was produced before a local court the next morning where she wa s granted bail. Sahar police said they have also filed a chargesheet in the case as the investigation had been completed. Police did not disclose her identity.