THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 21
A crude explosive was found today from the cargo section of a Kingfisher plane that arrived from Bangalore here with 31 people on board sparking a bomb scare and authorities admitted to a ‘security lapse.’
The presence of the “country-made bomb like object” of the size of a cricket ball containing 30 gms of ‘gunpowder’ and wrapped in two layers of paper, one of which was a page from the Thiruvananthapuram edition of a Malayalam newspaper, raised security concerns after the ATR 72 aircraft landed at the international airport this morning.
The 27 passengers and four crew members on the turboprop plane were safe, officials said.
City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar said the explosive could be “some form of nitrate or chloride”.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has launched a probe both at Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram. Police at the two cities were also involved in the investigations.
The object was spotted by cleaners after the passengers deplaned from IT 3174 flight which landed at 8 AM, airport security sources and police said.
The aircraft was towed to the isolation bay and the object removed and defused by bomb disposal squad of the state police by immersing it in water.
Sources said an initial examination showed the presence of gun powder. Police said the exact chemical composition would be known after analysis by forensic experts.
“This is a very serious issue. Kerala Police have registered a case and are very seriously looking into it,” Kerala Law Minister M Vijay Kumar said
Calling the incident a “serious security lapse”, U K Bansal, Special Secretary (Internal Security) said “the only possibility is that it was put at the time of loading of baggage or at the time when it was being unloaded in Thiruvanathapuram.
“There was no detonator, no timing device so the bomb could not have gone off by itself,” he said, adding he would not put the blame on any “particular category of staff” till he had more information.
Cleaners, loaders and other ground handling employees at the airport here and Bengaluru were being questioned by security agencies.
The incident also triggered a blame game.
Security officials at Bangalore International Airport accused the airline for the security lapse.
