Passenger Arrested at Cochin Airport after She Said: "Is There A Bomb in My Bag?"

A passenger was arrested at Kochi airport after he used the word “bomb”. Manoj Kumar was traveling from Kochi to Mumbai on an Air India flight and during the security check, Manoj was seen making an alarming comment “Is there a bomb in my bag”. The CISF officer apprehended Manoj because of his comment and further checks were made in his check-in bags and cabin luggage. The Bomb Disposal Squad made a thorough check however, no threat was identified by them.

Manoj was handed over to local police for further investigation, informed Kochi Airport officials. CISF and DGCA take certain threatening words such as “Hijack” and “Bomb” seriously. Certain set standards need to be followed by the passenger. Making such claims can be challenging for the passengers as they might be frisked.

After deboarding, the flight was checked for any threats and then departed on schedule. While such threats cannot be negated, using threatening words can cause delays in flight operations for which the passengers might have to suffer.

A similar case was registered this year in June when an individual was traveling from Kochi to London. The family of 3 was arrested after they made a hoax claim of having a bomb. Shuhaib was arrested because he made a hoax threat to Air India customer care leading to his arrest. Despite his daughter’s food poisoning, AI refused to reschedule his flight claiming security issues.

DGCA has made strict rules for passengers and with the past events of compromised security for passengers has further strengthened the measures.