Begumpet airport, Qatar Airways cargo flight receive hoax bomb threats

Bomb threat calls to a city airport and a private international cargo flight here on Wednesday kept officials on their toes, prompting the deployment of standard measures including declaring an emergency, but they eventually turned out to be hoax claims.

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An emergency was declared at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGI) after an email claimed of a “human bomb” in an incoming Qatar Airways flight but it turned, police said.

A similar threat call was made to the Begumpet airport, largely used for VIP movement. Both turned out to be hoax calls, police said.

The bomb threat targeting the Doha-Hyderabad Qatar Airways cargo flight was received at the RGI airport on the city outskirts. The email claimed the presence of a human bomb in the cargo flight, which was found to be hoax after thorough checks, police said.

The email was sent to the customer care ID of the airport in the morning and all procedures were followed as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), airport sources said.

As per the SOP, an emergency was declared at the airport, fire and security teams were put on standby till the aircraft landed safely and a temporary bomb threat assessment committee, comprising representatives of airport security, police and others was also formed.

The aircraft landed safely and it was taken to an isolation bay and thorough checks were carried out, they said.

Similarly, the Begumpet airport also received bomb threat via email.

Thorough checks were conducted on the premises by the bomb disposal squad and other security wings after the email was received.

Fire service was also deployed during the checks, police said, adding that the bomb threat was found to be a hoax.

Further investigation was under way.

The airport at Begumpet in the heart of the city is not used for passenger services, and only VIP aircraft are operated from the facility.