Hoax halts plane,flier’s kin under cloud

The caller had given a passenger’s name and seat number. The flier,city businessman Shahbaz Khan,was detained for about six hours and questioned by immigration and CISF officials.

“There was nothing substantial in the claim of the caller and the passenger seems to be an innocent bonafide traveller,” said J S Negi,senior commandant,CISF. A CISF official said “99 per cent chances” indicated the call was made by somebody from within Khan’s family,due to enmity.

When the call arrived at 9.55 am,Emirates flight EK505 with 356 passengers and crewmembers onboard was already on taxiway M4. It was next in cue to take off,said an ATC official.

The caller alleged that Khan,in 17F,owes allegiance to the LeT and had plans to blow up the aircraft with a mobile phone bomb. The office that received the call does not have a caller identification system.

The ATC informed the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL),which in turn alerted the CISF. The airport was cordoned off and emergency services put on standby.

The scheduled take-off was at 9.55 am but the Boeing 777-300 was still on taxiway M4 at 10.20 am when ATC made contact with the pilot. At 10.47,the aircraft was taken to the isolated bay Tango 4 and surrounded by CISF staff. Amid high drama,all passengers were deplaned and taken to the transit lounge where luggage and hand baggage were thoroughly checked.

All passengers were cleared to re-board after 12.30 pm,with two exceptions: airline officials wrote to immigration authorities for permission to offload Shahbaz Khan and his wife. “His wife was not detained but she chose to stay back with him,” said a CISF official.

The aircraft took off at 1.45 pm,airport and Emirates officials said.

Khan,59,was interrogated by officials from the Intelligence Bureau,CISF and Immigration. He was later taken to Sahar police station. After verifying the details he provided,and confirming he was carrying no dangerous object,security officials said it appeared to have been a hoax.

THE PASSENGER

* Shahbaz Khan,59,the passenger who was detained,is a businessman who runs a security agency with his son,Aslam Khan. When The Indian Express reached his apartment on Mody Street,Fort,his wife and son were not home,a friend of the son said.

* Khan contested from Colaba in the Assembly elections last year,losing to Congress’s Annie Shekhar.