Kolkata: “I have a bomb attached to my body.” This shocking declaration forced a flight going to Mumbai from Kolkata, return here late Saturday night. The 23-year-old woman who announced the threat has been arrested.
Sources said that the flight for Mumbai had left the Kolkata airport here at around 10.10pm. Around 35 minutes later, the woman called one of the airhostesses and asked her to give a note she had written to the pilot. The unsuspecting crew member did just that.
However, when the pilot read the chit he was shocked. The note said, “I have a bomb attached to my body.” The pilot did not take any risk, he contacted the air traffic controller at NSC Bose International Airport and explained the situation. The pilot also informed that the flight is returning to Kolkata.
By that a state of emergency had gripped the Kolkata airport. CISF jawans took control of the runway and when the plane landed it was taken to a secluded spot. All the 114 passengers including the woman were brought down and thoroughly searched. However, no explosive was found either on the woman or other passengers. The aircraft was checked, but it turned out to be ‘clean’.
Airport authorities, however, were not ready to pass the matter lightly. They handed over the 23-year-old lady who had made the threat to the police.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was very ‘high’ having consumed excessive alcohol. Blood tests also confirmed Sunday, high level of alcohol present.
Sources said that the woman was going to Mumbai to meet her future father-in-law who is sick. She left her home at Salt Lake at around seven in the evening for the airport. On her arrival, she quickly consumed more than eight pegs at the airport bar before boarding the flight.
In an inebriated condition, the woman then issued the threat leading to a pandemonium. But then it looks like she is also in for tough times. The police took her into their category after producing the woman at a court in Barrackpore.
It remains to be seen as how the woman’s future husband who also resides in Mumbai, react.
PNN & Agencies