Varanasi: Panic broke out at Varanasi airport after a Canadian national aboard a Bengaluru-bound IndiGo flight claimed he was carrying a bomb on Saturday night.
Following his claim, the flight was taken back to the apron of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport from the runway and was checked for several hours by CISF and the bomb disposal squad before it was allowed to depart on Sunday morning. Subsequently, the Canadian, Yohanathan Nishanth (23), was arrested by Phoolpur police. DCP Gomati Zone Akash Patel said Nishanth claimed to have a bomb in his bag when the flight was in the process of taking off. The pilot immediately alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the aircraft was moved to the isolation bay after safely disembarking all the passengers. After intensive checking by BDS and CISF personnel for five hours, no explosive material was found. The Canada high commission has been informed about the incident. Phoolpur police station inspector Pravin Kumar said the individual from Canada appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. IndiGo Airlines flight 6E-499 was positioned for departure at 10:24 pm, already experiencing a delay from its original schedule of 9:55 pm on Saturday.
The preliminary enquiry conducted by police and CISF security staff revealed that whilst the aircraft was moving from the apron to the runway, Yohanathan had shifted from his allocated seat. When cabin crew instructed him to return to his designated seat, he became agitated. Subsequently, he started making alarming declarations about carrying explosives in his baggage and also started shouting religious slogans.
All the passengers spent the night in the terminal building. After receiving clearance from security agencies, the aircraft departed for Bengaluru at 7 am on Sunday, officials said.