A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 356 passengers, including crew on board was grounded here after a terror alert call, an airport official said.
The flight EK 505 was grounded after an anonymous call was received saying that there were some suspected terrorists on board the plane, a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.
The aircraft had pushed back for the runway at 0959 hours when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed MIAL about a security hazard on board, the spokesperson said.
The plane was taxied to Tango Bay at 1047 hours. All the passengers were deplaned and a thorough checking of the passengers and luggage was carried out by the security agencies.
One or two passengers have been held back and they are being questioned by the security agencies, the spokesperson added.
According to police, the caller, who identified himself as Suresh Chavan, claimed one of the passengers on board by name Shahbaz Khan was an al-Qaeda terrorist.
“The caller identified himself as Suresh Chavan. He had called the cargo supervisor of Emirates flight claiming that he overheard someone saying Shahbaz was a terrorist,” the police said.
