Passport offices, post offices in Gujarat checked after bomb threat e-mail

Chief Postmaster General of Gujarat Ganesh V Sawaleshwarkar told The Indian Express, “Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) are being run in 19 of our premises in Gujarat. This morning, an email was forwarded to us by the Regional Passport Officer (RPO), Surat. While there was nothing specific regarding post offices therein, as a matter of caution, we reported the matter to the police and asked our field offices to inform local police stations. The police authorities took requisite action.”

Surat Regional Passport Officer K N Santhakumar said, “We came across the email at 10.45 am stating ‘Your passport office will be blasted today’. We immediately contacted the Surat police department. Till 10.30 am we were continuing taking the applicants who arrived as per the appointment. The police reached our office with sniffer dogs and a bomb disposal squad. The entire building was evacuated and later checks were carried out. It lasted for over three hours. The cops checked on the terrace and also at the parking areas, but nothing suspicious was found. All the pending applicants were sent home.”

He added, “After three hours, only staffers were allowed. Now we will issue new appointments to the remaining applicants. Our regular routine dealing with the applicants starts from Saturday onwards.”