On Sunday morning, when the plane took off from Chennai and was about to land at Kolkata airport, the cabin crew noticed a tissue paper in the toilet, with “Bomb on Board” written in bold.

Thereafter, the cabin crew immediately informed the pilot who brought the matter to the notice of the Air Traffic Control at Kolkata airport.

As soon as the plane landed at Kolkata airport around 12.50 pm, the CISF personnel surrounded the plane. The Bomb Disposal Squad along with the CISF personnel thoroughly searched the flight. The flight was searched twice by the security agencies but nothing suspicious was found.

The search went on for more than two hours. The ordeal of the 167 passengers on board ended around 3.30 pm when the passengers were finally released.

The flight was scheduled to leave for Bagdogra from Kolkata and of the 167 passengers around 30 were scheduled to fly to Bagdogra. The flight to Bagdogra was, however, cancelled due to the search operations. Later in the evening, the plane left for Bangalore.

“We are investigating the matter. No one has been detained so far but investigation will continue,” said a senior CISF official at the airport.