Kerala - Kozhikode   

Bomb threat turns out to be hoax

Staff Reporter

Unidentified caller said bombs had been planted at various places in the city

TAKING NO CHANCES: A personnel of the bomb squad inspecting the ICICI bank's Kozhikode branch after it received a bomb threat on Wednesday. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Kozhikode : An anonymous call warning that bombs were planted at various places, including bus stations, banks and a place of worship put the police on their toes in the district on Wednesday.

However, the call turned out to be a hoax. Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay said the control room of the police (100) received an anonymous call at around 2 p.m. stating that he had overheard some people on the train, in which he was travelling, speaking about bombs and linking them with places at Palayam and Mofussil bus stations in Kozhikode and two other bus stations at Vadakara, ICICI Bank in Kozhikode and Vadakara and Mahe mosque.

The caller also did not identify himself but said he arrived in the Mangalore-Coimbatore train at the Kozhikode railway station. The call was traced to a coin-operated booth on the Mavoor Road. He was confused and also spoke vaguely for less than two minutes, Mr. Upadhyay said.

The dog squad and the bomb squad of the police swung into action on immediately getting the information. All these places, which the caller mentioned, were searched. Tension prevailed at the ICICI Bank in Kozhikode and Vadakara for a few hours till the police carried out the search operations. The employees and the customers who had come to the bank to transact business were evicted.

After a search was conducted in Kozhikode city, the dog squad proceeded to Vadakara only towards evening.

Since the anonymous call was from a coin operated box, it was "humanely impossible" to identify the caller. Service providers were asked to provide the number and places they had installed the coin-operated boxes, he said.

Mr. Upadhyay said there were 3,000 coin-operated boxes of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited under the Kozhikode Secondary Switching Area. Reliance Infocomm had around 1,000 coin-operated boxes in the city and its suburbs.

The Tata Infocomm also had a significant number, he said.

Kannur Range Deputy Inspector General of Police S. Ananthakrishnan, who is in Kasaragod, said that Mr. Upadhyay and Kozhikode Rural (Vadakara) Superintendent of Police T.M. Aboobacker had been instructed to carry out the search operations in all the places.

Two days ago the city police had to carry out a search on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kurla Netravati Express after the information counter of the Kozhikode railway station received a call warning that a bomb had been planted on the train.

The call was a hoax but the train was delayed for more than one hour.

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