Emirates flight grounded in Mumbai after terror alert call

Mumbai, Feb 7 (PTI) A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 356 passengers, including crew, on board was grounded here after a terror alert call, an airport official said.

The flight EK 505 was grounded after an anonymous call was received saying that there were some suspected terrorists on board the plane, a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.

The aircraft had pushed back for the runway at 0959 hours when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed MIAL about a security hazard on board, the spokesperson said.

The plane was taxied to Tango Bay at 1047 hours. All the passengers were deplaned and a thorough checking of the passengers and luggage was carried out by the security agencies.

One or two passengers have been held back and they are being questioned by the security agencies, the spokesperson added.

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A Mumbai-Dubai bound Emirates flight number EK 502 was recalled on Sunday (February 7) just before take off, after the Airline reportedly received a call from Dubai noting that one of the passengers onboard reportedly on seat 17 F is a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)terrorist.

The aircraft had pushed back for the runway at 0959 hours when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed MIAL about a security hazard on board, the spokesperson said.

The plane was taxied to Tango Bay at 1047 hours. All the 356 passengers were deplaned and a thorough checking of the passengers and luggage was carried out by the security agencies.

The caller has not been identified yet. However, the immigration authorities are interrogating him currently. Official details of the investigations are awaited.

Sources said that the terrorist, whose name is known but withheld subjected to official confirmation, has visited Mumbai before and reportedly hails from one of the Southern states of India. He was on his way to Dubai and was supposed to board another Emirates flight from there, added sources.

The suspected terrorist, though, was not found with any suspicious elements, the investigators are not leaving any stone unturned and are investigating the passenger’s antecedent and background details.

Mumbai International Airport authorities are reportedly sharing the details of the on-going investigation with intelligence agencies at the state and central level. However, sources told that this particular passenger’s name does not feature in the list of suspected LeT terrorist.