Bhubaneswar: High alert sounded at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar reportedly after receiving a hoax bomb threat call this afternoon.
Taking a serious note of the bomb threat, the authorities of the airport swung into action and the Central Industrial Security Force (CIFS) intensified security checking both at the entrance and exit, said sources. The airport officials also informed the local police about it and started a search operations to locate any suspicious objects in and outside the aerodrome, added the sources.
As the message has been received from an unknown person, it is assumed to be a hoax message. However, efforts by the police and security personnel are underway to trace the person and identify the motive behind such non-specific threat. Soon, a team of Special Tactical Unit (STU) reached the airport to join the inspection.
Meanwhile speaking about the bomb threat, airport director Prasanna Pradhan said, “We got a hoax bomb threat through the X handle (formerly known as Twitter) which said that bombs have been kept at several flights of the Akasa Air. However, we declared it as non-specific after convening the protocols of the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC). We also cleared the flight (Bangalore-Bhubaneswar Akasa Air) following all the procedures of BTAC and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).”
Similar bomb threat was also reportedly received by the authorities of the Bira Surendra Sai Airport, also known as Jharsuguda Airport, informed airport director Sandeep Kumar Tiwari. We started an inspection after receiving a message on social media claiming the presence of bomb at the Bangalore-Jharsuguda Indigo flight.
