A reported bomb threat email sent to authorities at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Thursday triggered a search operation by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), according to Anandabazar. The report said no suspicious object had been found at the airport up to the latest available update, while the search was continuing.
The threat was reportedly received by the airport authorities during the afternoon. According to the report, the email claimed that a bomb had been placed inside the airport premises. Authorities alerted CISF personnel stationed at the airport after receiving the message, following which security teams began searching the facility.
The central details remain subject to official confirmation. The supplied report attributes the information to sources and does not include a statement from the airport operator, CISF, Kolkata Police or another named authority confirming the email or the status of the search. It also does not establish whether passenger movement, flight schedules or access to airport facilities were affected.
Anandabazar reported that security personnel were checking the airport and examining whether the email contained false information. The report said authorities were unwilling to take any risk despite an initial possibility that the message could be a hoax. Efforts were also reportedly under way to identify the sender, with cyber experts being asked to help trace the origin of the email.
The incident places the airport’s security system in the familiar position of having to respond fully to an unverified threat until checks establish whether it is credible. A search operation can therefore proceed even when authorities suspect that the information may be false. The available report does not provide details of the areas searched, the number of security personnel involved, the airport’s emergency procedures or whether any evacuation or restriction was ordered.
The report linked Thursday’s development to a wider pattern of bomb-threat messages sent to airports in India around two years ago. In those cases, searches reportedly found no suspicious objects and the threats were subsequently found to be false. The repeated incidents had led the Centre to consider stricter action to prevent the circulation of such messages, according to the report.
Kolkata airport also faced two reported bomb scares on the same day in February. One involved a threat written with lipstick inside the washroom of an IndiGo aircraft, while a note stating that a bomb had been placed on the aircraft was reportedly found in the washroom of another plane. The report said both incidents were later found to involve false information.
The immediate next step is the completion of the ongoing search and the identification of the email’s source. Confirmation from the airport authorities, CISF or police is still required to establish the threat’s authenticity, the final search result and any operational consequences.
