LAHORE, Jan 14: A bomb threat at a sale-cum-call centre of a bank, which later turned out to be a hoax, panicked the employees and locals on Walton Road on Monday.

Defence Supervisory Police Officer Ayyaz Saleem told Dawn an unidentified man gave a call to employee of ABN-Amro head-office Mall Road, Saqib, that a bomb had been planted at the bank’s centre on Koray Stop, Walton Road.

Saqib informed an officer of the four-storey centre about the bomb. The official evacuated the building, which houses 800 employees.

One of the employees at the centre informed Rescue 15 about the situation. Police officials of Defence A and Defence B police stations, bomb disposal squad unit, Rescue 1122 and Edhi Ambulances also arrived at the spot.

“Officials of bomb disposal squad searched through the office using metal detectors and other devices for explosives. After one-and-a half hour, they declared there was no bomb in the building,” the SPO said.

He said the head office of the bank had no Caller Line Identification (CLI) system through which the number of the caller could be traced.