National Investigative Agency (NIA) has got in touch with Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) Gujarat and may take up the case of Jet Airways aircraft’s emergency landing in Ahmedabad to explore any terror angle in the incident.
NIA chief YC Modi indicated a person identified as Birju Kishore Salla was behind the scare and had been detained by the Ahmedabad police. NIA officials were in touch with the Gujarat police over the issue and a call would be taken in a day an FIR would be filed in connection with emergency landing as a crew member found a note in the plane’s washroom that stated there were hijackers on board, he informed.
A Mumbai to Delhi Jet Airways flight which was boarded by around 120 people did emergency landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport following security related issues. Flight 9W 339, which had taken off from Mumbai at 2:55 AM with 115 passengers and seven crew members, landed without incident at Ahmedabad around 3:45 AM. The Boeing 737-900 plane was parked at a remote bay and all 122 people on board safely deplaned.
Sources close to the development said that the flight number 9W339 had to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport due to a threat message. A member of the cabin crew had found a printed note stating that there was a bomb in the belly, the cargo area, of the plane, said the sources. The plane was thoroughly checked by sniffer dogs, bomb disposal experts and ATS Gujarat personnel and anti sabotage team before it took off to Delhi after around 7 hours stay at Ahmedbad with all the passengers on board, said the sources.
Confirming about the incident Ahmedabad Airport Director Manoj Gangal said that the flight having 9 crew members on board took off from Mumbai at 2.55 am. Its pilot was later informed that there were hijackers on board with explosives and hence he contacted the ATC at Ahmedabad and reposes arrangement for a priority landing was made, he added.
‘‘The plane touched the base at 3.48 am. All the passengers were deplaned with luggage and other cargo for search operation. Once security forces conducted search operation and they satisfied with security of the passenger the fight was allowed to fly towards Delhi at around 10.50 am,’’ He informed.
An official with the ATS team said that there was no explosive or any other objectionable substance inside the flight. The security personnel also checked passengers onboard and they didn’t find any harmful thing with them, he added.
Meanwhile Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju stated the person responsible for the security threat had been identified. According to the minister the person who made the mischief would be put on the no-fly list as well as a statutory criminal action would be taken against him. The aviation ministry has kept the identity of the person undisclosed.
