Kerala - Kozhikode   

Bomb threat delays train

Staff Reporter

Call that a bomb had been planted on Netravati Express turns out to be a hoax

TAKING NO CHANCES: Personnel of the bomb squad checking the luggage of passengers on Netravati Express at Kozhikode railway station on Monday after they received a bomb threat. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Kozhikode: The Thiruvananthapuram-bound Netravati Express was delayed for over two hours on Monday following a call received at the Information Centre of Kozhikode Railway Station that a bomb had been planted in one of the compartments of the train.

Search conducted

Sniffer dogs and bomb squads were pressed into action to check the train at Kannur, Vadakara and Kozhikode stations. However, the call turned out to be a hoax.

Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Jayendran led the search operations.

The train, which originated from Mumbai on Sunday, was scheduled to arrive at Kozhikode station at 10.35 a.m.

But, it arrived only at 12.10 p.m. and left at 12.40 p.m.

The police said the anonymous call was received at the Information Centre at 9.20 a.m. from a coin-operated telephone box at Kuttchira in Kozhikode city.

The caller warned that the bomb would go off before the train reached Kozhikode railway station.

Last week, the city police were on their toes after the police control room received an anonymous caller that a bomb had been planted at N.S.S. High School at Meenchanda.

This call had also turned out to be a hoax.. Senior police officials said the hoax calls were taken seriously in the wake of the serial blasts in Mumbai last week.

Kozhikode witnessed two powerful blasts at the KSRTC and mofussil bus stations in March.

The explosion occurred soon after calls were received at the District Collectorate and a newspaper office.

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