LAHORE, Oct 18: Panic gripped the visitors and traders of Gulberg’s Pace Shopping Mall on Saturday evening after a hoax bomb call, witnesses and police said.

Model Town division SP Rai Ejaz Ahmed told Dawn that an unidentified man called the pace administration through their exchange number at around 7.15pm claiming a bomb had been planted in the basement which could go off anytime.

He said Gulberg police and Bomb Disposal Squad personnel rushed to the spot, conducted a thorough search of the basement and cleared it after an hour.

He said the number of hoaxer could not be traced as exchange of the centre was without CLI.

The SP said whole plaza was got evacuated by the administration soon after the call.

Thousands of people, including women and children, visit the multi-storey mall daily which houses hundreds of shops.