Passenger prank delays flight

A passenger baggage labelled with a hoax bomb threat in Malayalam delayed a Calicut-bound Air Arabia flight from Sharjah for two hours.

A passenger baggage labelled with a hoax bomb threat in Malayalam delayed a Calicut-bound Air Arabia flight from Sharjah for two hours on Sunday, sources said on Monday.

News reports quoted security sources as saying that 23-year-old passenger, Sakkaria Kunjabdullah was arrested by the airport police. He belonged to a Muslim fundamentalist organisation in Kerala and wanted to create a scare in the Calicut airport.

The incident happened yesterday when security officials were checking the baggage of Calicut-bound passengers of Air Arabia flight G9 595.

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“The officials spotted the message written in Malayalam on Kunjabdullah’s baggage which mentioned that the bag contains bomb. Some slogans were also written on the baggage,” a source said.

Further checking proved that the message was hoax.

A Press statement from Air Arabia said the departure of Air Arabia flight G9 595 from Sharjah was delayed for approximately two hours due to security concerns.