Unattended bag creates panic at Delhi airport, later claimed by passenger

An unattended bag triggered panic on Friday at the Delhi airport on the suspicion of containing RDX, but officials later said it has been claimed by a passenger who had forgotten it outside the Terminal-3. It is almost certain that the bag does not have the explosive and it will be opened in the presence of the claimant, they said.

Shahid Hussain contacted airport authorities after over 16 hours of allegedly losing his bag. He said he had forgotten it outside the Indira Gandhi International airport's Terminal-3 after he arrived from Mumbai on a SpiceJet plane, sources said. The man, the sources said, told a joint investigation team of security officials that the bag contained a laptop, among other items.

He has been taken to the isolated area where the black coloured trolley bag has been kept inside a total containment vessel (TCV) or a thick metal sheeted bomb defusing container. The entire security paraphernalia at the sensitive airport went into a tizzy after initial inputs suggested that the bag could be holding RDX.

What added to the suspicion was that the place where the bag was spotted was in a "dark zone" outside the arrival terminal, where there is little CCTV coverage. The bag was detected around 1 am by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) staffer and has been since kept in an isolated zone with a joint of CISF, the bomb experts of the National Security Guard and forensics keeping it under observation.

"The bag was removed with the help of the CISF and shifted to another place. It has not been opened yet. It seems like there are some electric wires inside it. We have increased the security of the airport premises," Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of police (airport), said. Preliminary inputs suggested the contents of the bag could be RDX, the sources said. It was checked by an explosive detector and a sniffer dog.

CISF Special Director General (airport sector) M A Ganapathy, however, had said it was "premature" to say the explosive is RDX grade. "It can be any material and the initial inputs can be false. To say it is RDX at this point of time is highly premature. We should wait for the final assessment report," Ganapathy told PTI. Research Department Explosive, acronymed RDX, is a deadly non-smelly explosive and has been used by terrorist elements in the past to create mass casualties.

The sources said the suspected explosive has been put under observation for the next 24 hours and something certain can be said only after that. It could be an explosive or an improvised explosive device (IED), they added.

In July this year, a piece of cargo at the Vadodara airport was suspected to containing RDX. It later turned out to be a consignment of pellets and air guns, an official in the security establishment said. Giving details of Friday's incident, Delhi Police officials said a call was received around 1 am, following which the bag was found at arrival gate number two of the terminal.

The discovery of the bag caused panic among passengers who were not allowed to exit the terminal for sometime, sources at some airlines said. Officials said CISF and Delhi Police personnel conducted a complete anti-sabotage check of the airport after which passenger movement was allowed around 4 am.

The CISF and police have stepped up security at the facility in accordance with standard procedure, they said. Delhi airport has three terminals and domestic as well as international flights operate from the Terminal-3.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)