After initially creating a security scare on Friday by saying that a defused grenade was found aboard a Jumbo Jet that flew to Jeddah from Mumbai, via Hyderabad, Air India officials clarified that the suspect object was only a “plastic wrapper.”
What compounded the scare was the report that the Boeing 747-400 was kept as standby for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent U.S. visit. This too was denied later.
Officials said one reason for the confusion was that Indian security agencies were not involved and the search took place at the Jeddah airport.
Saudi Arabian security personnel boarded flight AI-965 on Friday night as the crew alerted them to the object in one of the seat pockets.
The plane was cleared for further operations after the security forces retrieved the plastic wrapper, said an airline statement. Air India officials said that during the time Mr. Modi was in the U.S., the aircraft had been operating on the Delhi-Frankfurt route. When this statement was put out, they had still not denied that the object was a defused grenade, and said it was part of a security drill carried out by the National Security Guards in the last week of September at select airports in India to check the alertness of the crew and others.
But this version changed after a few hours with Air India trying to put an end to speculation by maintaining that the object was a plastic wrapper.
