Bag triggers panic at airport

A bag lying in the parking lot triggered panic at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) on Thursday morning. 

Security personnel who noticed the bag alerted the control room and the police rushed to the spot with sniffer dogs.

Minutes later, a bomb detection and disposal squad too joined in, and some curious passengers and drivers swarmed the area. But the half-hour high drama fizzled out when police officers wearing guards and the bomb squad opened the bag, only to find a laptop in it.

According to police, the bag belongs to Muddukrishna (60), a resident of Bannerghatta Road, who works as a senior statistician in the University of Oman. 

He had arrived in the City on Thursday at around 4:30 am for his monthly visit to his family.
 

The bag accidentally fell off his luggage trolley and he failed to notice it, while putting his belongings into the cab, police said. On reaching home, he switched the television on and was surfing channels when he noticed a scroll in a Kannada news channel about a bag causing panic at the airport. 

He checked for his laptop bag and realised he had missed it. Muddukrishna hired an autorickshaw and rushed to the airport. He established the identity of his bag and collected it.