Kerala - Kollam   

Bomb scare at Kollam post office

Staff Reporter

`Letter bombs' turn out to be musical greetings cards

TAKING NO CHANCE: Bomb squad personnel examining one of the envelopes which triggered bomb scare at the Kollam Head Post Office on Friday.

KOLLAM: Two envelopes that aroused suspicion while sorting mail at the Kollam Head Post Office on Friday afternoon triggered panic in the busy Chinnakada area. Warnings in the wake of explosion of two letter bombs in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday were the cause of the suspicion.

A huge crowd gathered around the post office when the police along with a dog squad and bomb squad arrived at the scene. The post office complex had to be cordoned off for more than an hour.

On examination by the bomb squad, the envelopes were found to contain musical greetings cards. Both the envelopes were posted at the post box within the post office complex. The box was cleared at 1.30 p.m. and while sorting the mail, the envelopes aroused suspicion since they were found bulging and heavy. One of the envelopes was addressed to Tiruvalla and the other to Malapuram. Addresses in both were written in the same handwriting but there was no from address. All these aggravated the suspicion.

When the post-master placed the envelopes on a bomb detector, the alarm went off. That was enough for those at the post office to inform the police. The envelopes were placed in safe custody and handed over to the police.

Tension gripped the complex till the arrival of the bomb squad. Personnel from the squad examined the envelopes and opened one exposing the musical greetings card inside. The other one too contained a similar card.

The police said the button batteries in the musical gadget activated the alarm when the envelopes were placed on the bomb detector.

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