Man detained over bomb threat on Jet flight repeat offender, minister wants him on no-fly list
Monday, October 30, 2017 IST
Police have detained a passenger of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight which was forced to make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad on Monday after the discovery of a note on board threatened hijack and warned of a bomb in the cargo area, a police official said.
The passenger, identified as Birju Salla, a jeweller hailing from Rajula town in Gujarat’s Amreli district, was taken into custody based on suspicion after the plane landed in Gujarat, he said.
Salla, who now lives in Mumbai, is believed to be a repeat offender, the police official said. Officials are questioning him.
Birju Salla, a jeweller who lives in Mumbai; his boarding pass. (Photo by arrangement)
Earlier, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the person responsible for the security threat on the Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight had been identified and should be immediately put on the no-fly list.
“This is the second time when Salla did such a mischief with Jet Airways. A few months ago, he tried to harass the airline using some other trick. It seems that Salla has some grudge against the airline,” the police official said.
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“Salla was detained by police after preliminary investigation. He was on board the flight which made an emergency landing this morning. It was revealed that Salla had put the threat letter in the plane’s washroom. We will take necessary action against him,” he said.
Flight 9W 339, which had taken off from Mumbai at 2.55am with 115 passengers and seven crew members, landed at Ahmedabad around 3.45 am. The Boeing 737-900 plane was parked at a remote bay and all 122 safely deplaned, a Jet Airways spokesperson said. The printed note, in Urdu and English, said the flight had 12 hijackers on board and a bomb in the cargo area and should be flown straight to PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). Giving details of what had happened, Ahmedabad airport director Manoj Gangal said the flight was allowed to make an emergency landing on the pilot’s request. The bomb disposal squad and the local police conducted a thorough search but found no explosive substance, said Sardarnagar police station inspector HB Zala.
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