Islamabad: An Indian-American man was offloaded on Friday from a Qatar Airways plane at Islamabad airport after he claimed there was a bomb on the aircraft, authorities said.
Ajit Vijay Joshi was offloaded at the Benazir International Airport around 3:00am (local time) after officials of Qatar Airways refused to board him, claiming that he had raised a bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax.
The flight, that was on its way to Washington via Doha, landed at Islamabad airport after Joshi raised the false bomb scare.
"The Qatar Airways refused to board him as he raised a false bomb threat," an official said.
Joshi was temporarily kept under detention at the airport but released after the plane left and later landed in Doha. It was not clear whether he later on left for the United States or not, the official said.
The airlines are under threat after militants downed a Russian plane in Egypt last month killing all 224 passengers on board and the tragic November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.
Several flights have either diverted or landed half-way after bomb scares in recent weeks.
A plane of Pakistan's private Shaheen airline scheduled to fly from Peshawar to Dubai was delayed for hours after a bomb hoax this week.
