Bomb Threat to Kolkata Airport: Search Operation On

A handwritten note on tissue paper indicating a bomb threat at the Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Friday, sent the security forces into state of high alert. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and a bomb squad were carrying out an intensive search of the premises for any suspicious object, officials said.

The airport, officials said, was more crowded now after the end of the Durga Puja holiday. The cleaning staff reportedly found a handwritten note in the women’s restroom within the airport, warning that a bomb had been planted at Gate Number 30. The workers brought the matter to the notice of the higher officials.

Security personnel quickly cleared the crowd from that particular entrance, and a search operation was conducted there by the bomb squad and the CISF personnel, as well as elsewhere within the airport premises.

However, nothing suspicious had been found so far by the CISF troopers and personnel of the Airport Police Station, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Bidhannagar City Police in North 24 Parganas district.

The police are currently checking the CCTV footage, questioning the cleaning staff who first spotted the note, and investigating who was near the toilet before or after that and who used the toilet during that period.

Security at the airport premises has been beefed up following the incident. However, there are no reports of any impact on flight services yet. This is the second hoax bomb scare alert at the Kolkata Airport this month.