Fed up of security checks after bomb call, woman cancels trip to Toronto
Her ordeal started on Wednesday afternoon when the airport helpdesk in Delhi received an email giving details of a woman who was to travel by Jet Airways. The email said she was carrying explosives.
It all started with a prank mail. An 18-year-old woman cancelled her trip to Toronto after multiple security agencies, acting on an anonymous email that claimed she was carrying explosives, went into an overdrive and subjected her to intensive checks at the Amritsar and Delhi airport.
The mail, police suspect, could be from a jilted lover who did not want her to travel abroad.
Her ordeal started on Wednesday afternoon when the airport helpdesk in Delhi received an email giving details of a woman who was to travel by Jet Airways. The email said she was carrying explosives.
Since the woman was travelling from Amritsar to Toronto via Delhi; the mail was forwarded to the Jet Airways officials in Amritsar.
“At 1:40 pm, the Jet office in Amritsar received the mail and all agencies concerned were informed. A bomb threat assessment committee was formed and the local police, CISF and IB declared the threat as ‘specific’ and serious,” said a senior CISF official.
The woman’s ordeal started just when she was about to reach the Amritsar airport. At about 4:40 pm, the police stopped her at the first check-point near the airport and questioned her.
She was later taken to the terminal and her baggage was scanned. She was questioned but she said she had no idea about the email.
After nothing objectionable was found by the CISF and airline staff, she was allowed to board the flight to Delhi at 7:05 pm.
In Delhi, the frisking started all over again – multiple times.
“She reached Delhi at 8:30 pm and the checking started. After she was questioned multiple times, at 10:40 about pm, she got irritated and asked the airline to offload her.”
After her 12-hour ordeal, she decided to abandon her travel plans to Toronto.
“She exited the airport at 2:30 am after completing all formalities and took a bus back to Ludhiana,” the officer added.
A complaint has been lodged and the police are trying to trace the person who sent the email.