Karnataka: All airports put on high alert after bag with IED found at Mangaluru Airport

After a bag with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) material was found just outside the terminal at the Mangaluru International Airport, all airports in Karnataka including KIAL have been put on high alert. Security has also been tightened around Mangaluru, Bengaluru, and Hubli.

Mangaluru police have released footage and stills of the suspect who is seen wearing a white shirt and cap, seemingly middle-aged and arrived in an auto-rickshaw at the airport and dropped off the bag just outside the ticket counter.

At around 9 am on Monday, a suspicious-looking black laptop bag was found at the Mangaluru airport. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) detected low-density IED inside it and transported it to Kenjir grounds to dispose it off.

Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "At around 8:45-9:10 am, one of our men saw a backpack through the CCTV camera. Since it looked suspicious, CISF and our local police isolated it and moved it to a safer location. The bomb squad arrived and checked the backpack, it was detected that some bomb-making material was found in the bag. It is being detonated in the ground and the is police are already looking into who is behind keeping this back at the airport. Our police commissioner of Mangalore has already initiated an enquiry into this."

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Apart from IED, the bag reportedly contained several other materials used in bomb-making including nails, battery, timer, detonator wire and a switch. On Monday evening, the bomb disposal squad neutralized the bomb in a controlled explosion which ended in a white cloud in Kenjir ground even as a massive crowd had gathered to witness. 

'Tight Security in the state'

"In view of the incident, we have heightened security at all airports in Karnataka including Bangalore, Mangalore, Hubli, and Belagavi. Our investigators are looking into who is behind this act of terror and intent of targeting our country's security as well as the economy. We have seen in the past as well how there are attempts at terror attacks closer to January 26th. We have managed to foil all their attempts so far. Mangalore is also on the radar and thus we have tight security around Mangalore, Bangalore, Hubli, and Dharwad," the Karnataka home minister added.

READ | IED Found In Suspicious Bag At Mangaluru Airport, Bomb Disposal Squad At Site

Threat call

Later in the day, a threat call made around 3:15 pm claiming that a bomb was present onboard a flight from Mangalore to Bengaluru (6E-528) made the airport authorities call back the flight and initiate search operations. It has been declared that there were no explosives on the flight although agencies believe the threat call was made by the same source who planted the explosive-laden bag. 

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