Man claims to have bomb in plane at Kolkata airport, detained

A person has been detained by security agencies at Kolkata Airport following falsely claiming that there was a bomb on the plane. He was held from the airport boarding area. Security agencies are frisking the plane, reported ANI, citing sources from Kolkata Airport.

Earlier, seven flights operated by India-based carriers in Kolkata Airport received bomb threat messages through social media posts on Monday, reported PTI. The received threats were hoaxes.

"It was learnt around 2:45 pm that messages were posted on X handle 'I wanna slit your throat' that bombs were planted inside seven flights related to the Kolkata airport," the report said quoting Director of NSCBI airport, Dr Pravat Ranjan Beuria.

Out of the seven hoax threats, five were for Indigo and two were for Vistara, it added. The social media post claimed bombs were allegedly placed on a number of flights.

All the concerned officials were informed and the staff was alerted as well following the hoax threat, the report said.

The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) conducted a meeting and declared that the bomb threats were "non-specific", the report said citing Beuria, who is the Chairman of the panel as well.

The BTAC has also declared to the SOP to avoid such incidents in future.

The report said that the BTAC committee also asked everybody to adhere to all the guidelines to avoid panic situations involving bomb threats.

More than 410 domestic and international flights operated by the Indian airline operators have received hoax bomb threats in the last 15 days.

Following several hoax bomb threats, the IT Ministry has instructed social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and remove or disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines given under IT rules. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is also planning to take action against hoax bomb threats.