THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In what senior officials claim to be a prank, a bag containing a dummy bomb was found at Peroorkada bus stand on Monday night ahead of Gandhi Jayanti. The bomb disposal squad took the pack into the nearby SAP ground and found a dummy bomb made of plaster of Paris. A structure similar to the tip of a rocket and stones also were found. The bag which was kept on the stand designated for Aruvikka and Mancha was first spotted by KSRTC officials who then called the cops.
“This was not a drill by any agency. It could only be a drill by miscreants. We will probe into the source of the bag,” a police official said. Co-incidentally, during September last week, a dummy Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found from Mangaluru International airport. Days before that, five dummy bombs were recovered from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Also TNT was found hidden among medicine bottles from a passenger at Bagdogra airport, West Bengal.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is looking into the planting of such dummies. Meanwhile, the top brass of police said that this might just be a prank. “It was just a crude replica and in all likelihood is a prank by local guys. There is absolutely no need for any panic,” said IG (Thiruvananthapuram Range) Manoj Abraham.
