Alert after calls are made saying Kolkata airport will be blown up

Kolkata: Security personnel at the NSC Bose International Airport on Wednesday went into high gear after three phone calls were made saying that the airport will be blown up.

While the first two calls were made to Lalbazar Police Control Room at around 1.15 AM, the third call was made to Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.

Immediately after the first two calls, the bomb squad, sniffer dogs along with a CISF team, were pressed into action and the entire airport was thoroughly screened during the night, a senior police officer said.

However, "nothing was found", he said.

The first call was made to Lalbazar control room at around 1.15 AM by a man who said that he had got information that one person named Arshad, a human bomb, was planning to blow up the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, the officer said.

"The call was made from 3615188371 phone number. The male voice gave us another number (8697872895), saying that it was Arshad's number. He almost pleaded that a probe be launched quickly," a top officer of Kolkata Police told PTI.

The next call came 15 minutes later from the same number, claiming that a bomb was planted inside the airport and "it will blow up the whole place within minutes", he said.

At around 8.55 AM, another call was made to Bidhannagar Police Control Room, claiming that a bomb had been planted inside a cargo aircraft and "it'll go off any moment", a senior officer said.

The bomb squad, sniffer dogs and CISF personnel made a thorough check in the entire airport, the officer, said, adding passengers and their luggage were scrutinised and vehicles were not allowed to stay near the main entrance of the airport for more than two minutes, the officer said.