A male passenger from West Bengal’s Murshidabad was apprehended in connection with the hijack threat to a Kolkata-Mumbai Air India flight that triggered a security scare at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Bengal’s capital city on Wednesday.
The incident involved Air India flight AI 2772, an Airbus A320 (VT-TNH), which was scheduled to depart for Mumbai on Wednesday morning. A handwritten note warning of a hijack was found in the aircraft’s lavatory by the cabin crew around 10.37am. The note warned that the aircraft would be hijacked at 11.10am. On November 7, an IndiGo flight (6E 451) from Bengaluru to Lucknow returned to Bengaluru after a passenger found a threat note inside the aircraft’s lavatory. The note warned that the plane would be hijacked at 6.30am, prompting the pilots to turn back in accordance with standard operating procedures. Earlier, on October 14, an Air India flight operating from Frankfurt to Delhi was diverted to Jaipur following a suspected hijack alert . It had transmitted Squawk Code 7500, the internationally recognised code for hijacking or unlawful interference, prompting an emergency response.
An AAI official confirmed the development said said, “A passenger had been apprehended in connection with the incident and handed over to the NSCBI Airport Police Station. The alert was subsequently reported to be false, and a possible technical glitch is being examined. The Kolkata incident comes less than a month after two other flights faced hijack scares. A full emergency was declared at Bengaluru airport and security checks were carried out. The threat was later declared a hoax, and the flight resumed its journey after receiving the requisite clearances. The aircraft landed safely and passengers were deboarded for security checks.
