The Hindu : Front Page : Bomb threat: Police do anti-sabotage checks

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Saturday, May 06, 2006

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Front Page

Bomb threat: Police do anti-sabotage checks

Staff Reporter

A letter said a suicide bomber will board Howrah Express anywhere between Bangalore and Katpadi

TAKING NO CHANCES: Police checking the luggage on the platform at Yeshwanthpur Railway Station in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: The police conducted anti-sabotage checks at the Yeshwanthpur Railway Station here on Friday following a threat that a suicide bomber will board the Yeshwanthpur-Howrah Express and trigger an explosion.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Railways) N. Shiva Kumar told The Hindu that the Station Master of the Bangalore City Railway Station received an anonymous letter on Wednesday that a suicide bomber would board the Yeshwanthpur-Howrah Express anywhere between Yeshwanthpur Railway Station and Katpadi in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

The train, scheduled to leave Yeshwanthpur at 6.45 p.m., left at 7 p.m. and no suspected people boarded the train here.

Security tightened

"We have heightened the security and taken steps all along the train route in Karnataka. The Tamil Nadu police have been put on the alert," Mr. Shiva Kumar said.

In view of the threat, the police screened all passengers and luggage at the Yeshwanthpur Railway Station. Personnel of Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and tracker dogs were pressed into service. The police also conducted searches along the tracks around the railway station.

Large police presence

A large number of policemen, including those from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), were deployed at the railway station. The presence of several policemen and the unprecedented checks conducted by them at the railway station caused tension among passengers.

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