In the latest series of threats, passengers of Jet Airways Boeing 737 that landed in Kathmandu from New Delhi on Sunday were evacuated and bomb disposal unit had to be called after a bomb threat call was received by the authorities.All the domestic and international flights were put on hold and few were diverted until getting security clearance after it was confirmed that the call was just a hoax. The aircraft returned back carrying 162 passengers after being grounded for four hours.
According to security officials at the TIA, the increase in number of hoax calls and threats from unidentified sources in the recent weeks have led to increased security checks at both the arrival and departure sections.
DIG Govinda Niraula, chief of TIA security, said, "We have intensified security checks in the recent weeks following hoax bomb threats and airports, railway stations being targeted by terrorists in different countries."
"We have increased security vigilance, tightened screening at departure and arrival lounges, closed unwanted doors and restricted the movement of unauthorized officials working on the TIA premises," he said, adding, "But till date, we have not traced any suspicious activities."
Just 15 minutes before the Jet Airways aircraft landed in Kathmandu, the airlines operator in India alerted officials at Kathmandu about possibility of bombs in the aircraft.
"As soon as we were informed about the threats, the aircraft was isolated at Buddha Air's hangar, passengers were evacuated and started screening the aircraft with the help of the bomb disposal units of Nepal Army and Nepal Police. We also used sniffer dogs," said an official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
The flight was scheduled to take off at 4.20 pm but was delayed by about two hours.
Earlier several flights were halted after the airlines got calls from untraced sources claiming bombs in the flights ready to take off from New Delhi's international airport. Of them, most of the flights that received such hoax calls were Kathmandu bound, creating threats to both security agencies of Nepal and India.
Nepal Police said they were preparing for additional deployment after analyzing possible threats in the future.
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