Chennai airport gets bomb threat once again; police declare it a hoax

Anonymous bomb threat email received in Tamil Nadu, prompting security measures and investigation to trace sender.

An anonymous email was received at Tamil Nadu’s police control room that threatened to detonate bombs at three places, including the Chennai airport.

This is the second such threat in just a week -- the airport received a bomb threat via email early on Sunday, May 26, following which security was beefed up, before investigators found that the threat was a hoax.

This time around, the mailer claimed that the bomb would explode at Chennai Airport, the YMCA building on NSC Bose Road and YMCA campus in Nandanam, said police sources. Immediately after receipt of the mail, top-level police officers in the city were notified. A bomb detection and disposal squad went to all three spots and thoroughly checked them with the help of sniffer dogs and detectors. They then declared there was no bomb and the threat was a hoax, said sources.

Efforts are on to trace the sender of the email.

It may be recalled that in February, a bomb threat mail was sent to 13 private schools in Chennai claiming that a powerful bomb had been place, leading to some schools closing early and sending children home.