Tipsy man delays Dubai-bound flight with hoax bomb threat

Chennai: An inebriated man who wanted to prevent his family members from travelling out of the country on Saturday made a hoax bomb threat to a Dubai-bound private carrier, only to land in the police net.

The city resident wanted to prevent two of his family members from flying to Dubai and made the threat call to the city police control room, prompting the security agencies to launch a full-scale search inside the Indigo flight that was originally scheduled to depart at 7.20 am on Saturday, airport and police officials said.

Following the threat call, a thorough check was undertaken by the security agencies to ascertain if any explosive items were planted in the flight.

However, no such items were found on the aircraft, with officials and others heaving a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the call was traced to a man in the city who wanted to stop his relatives from flying to Dubai and he was promptly picked up by the police.

The flight will proceed towards its destination later in the day, officials added.

Around 180 passengers and crew members of the flight were provided accommodation.