Emirates flight grounded in Mumbai; couple detained

Mangalore Today

Mumbai, Feb.7:A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 356 passengers and crew on board was on Sunday grounded for about four hours at the airport following a terror alert after which a couple was detained by police for questioning.

 

Emirates Airlines flight EK 505 Mumbai-Dubai was grounded following the alert and a man and a woman were detained, the police and the airline said in a statement here. The plane later left for its destination after security clearance.

The flight was grounded after a caller who identified himself as Suresh Chavan alleged that one of the passengers on board by the name Shahbaz Khan was an ’al-Qaeda’ terrorist, police said.

It said, "Chavan had called the cargo supervisor of the Emirates flight claiming that he overheard someone saying Shahbaz was a terrorist."

Emirates Airlines said, it "can confirm that its flight EK 505 (Mumbai-Dubai) was called back by Mumbai’s Air Traffic Control before departure. A male passenger and his wife have been handed over to the local Mumbai police authorities for questioning".

A senior police officer said, "The male passenger is Shahbaz Khan. Shahbaz and his wife were detained. Since the woman is a heart patient, she has been sent back home. We are questioning Shahbaz". No detail about the interrogation was available.