Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Fear fades, State returns to normal

Thiruvananthapuram: The State, in the grip of fear for the past two days following reports that it was the next target of terrorists after Bangalore and Ahmedabad, is slowly returning to normality.

The situation, which was near normal on Monday, improved on Tuesday. The scaling down of police presence in public places and checking of the belongings of rail and road passengers and vehicles seemed to send a message of reassurance to the people. They went about their business as usual. The usual number of bomb threats was there. A couple of telephonic messages kept the police on their toes in the capital city also.

Staff Reporters write from Kozhikode:

Two telephone calls threatening that bombs have been planted at the bus stand at Nadapuram and a house near the telephone exchange there put the police on high alert from the early hours of Tuesday. The threats turned out to be a hoax. The first call came to the Nadapuram police station at 2.30 a.m., threatening that the bomb will go off at the bus stand at 12.30 p.m. The number of the caller was 010092255164. The police station received the second call at around 1.40 p.m. The call was from ph: 010092255170.

People were evacuated from the bus stand and the dog and bomb squads started a search early in the morning. Fire engines were stationed nearby and vehicular traffic in and around the stand were stopped for a while.

K. Natarajan, Rural Superintendent of Police, Kozhikode, told The Hindu that the Airtel phone numbers were not normal numbers of the mobile service provider, but, perhaps, those provided under a special scheme. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. had been requested to identify the place from where the calls were made.

District Collector A. Jayathilak instructed government and private hospitals, cinemas, shopping malls and other public buildings and places to take safety measures in the view of the bomb threats. The Collector was speaking at a meeting called in this connection at the Collectorate here on Tuesday.

He said vehicles coming to the hospitals should get registered and be parked only at stipulated distances. Bags of patients and visitors would be checked. The entire premises of institutions such as hospitals and theatres should be lit up. Emergency exits and fire extinguishers should be kept ready for any eventuality. The main gates and all other gates of these institutions should be kept closed.

Vehicles would be checked at all government offices, including the Collectorate.He instructed the Corporation and the municipalities to clear waste heaps immediately. Parcel boxes, including those containing medicines, kept stacked at bus stands and railway stations would be taken into custody. Checks should be conducted at theatres to verify if any bags are left after each screening.

The Kozhikode city police arrested two youths on Tuesday on charges of conspiring and making a hoax call to a tyre-selling shop at Eranhipalam here on Monday, threatening that the firm will be blasted with explosives.

The town police nabbed S. Sangeeth, and K. Sunil, friends, on a complaint from the manager of the shop. The call was traced to a coin-operated phone at Mananchira.

The police said Sunil was employed at the shop and was not in good terms with the manager.

Staff Reporter writes from Kochi:

The police took two youths into custody near the Naval Base here on receiving information that they had a map of the base and nearby areas.

On questioning by the Harbour police, the youths, one from Bihar and the other from New Delhi, said they were carrying out a customer survey in the area for a private telephone company. The police searched the place where they lived.

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