Bomb threat puts city airport on high alert

Coimbatore: The city airport was on high alert on Tuesday after it received a bomb threat email. A bomb detection and disposal squad and a sniffer dog squad with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) carried out a thorough search on the airport premises and declared it was a hoax bomb threat.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that 40 airports across India had received the same bomb threat email around 12.40pm on Tuesday.
The city airport authorities saw the email around 1.30pm and alerted the CISF and the city police. “The email said ‘bombs were planted at the airport and it may go off anytime’,” said an official source.
Immediately, the bomb detection and disposal squad and the sniffer dog squad were pressed into service. They, however, didn’t find any trace of bomb on the airport premises.
S Senthil Valavan, city airport director, said they were on high alert and had taken all precautions. “It was not a specific threat email. However, we have intensified the security at the airport. Flight operations were not affected because of the hoax bomb threat email.”
The Peelamedu police have registered a case and are inquiring into the incident.