MULTAN, Dec 19: A PIA flight coming from Islamabad had to make an emergency landing at the Multan Airport on Friday after a passenger made a hoax disclosure to a crew member moments before landing that a bomb had been planted on the aircraft.
Security officials later arrested the passenger identified as Saleem Naeemat and registered a case against him.
Naeemat informed a steward of the PK-385 flight about the presence of a bomb. The crew member informed the captain, who immediately contacted the air traffic controller and sought permission to make an emergency landing.
Security officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and bomb-disposal squad evacuated the passengers from the Boeing-737, unloaded the luggage and examined the aircraft thoroughly. However, no bomb or explosive material was found.
"After the plane was cleared by security officials, all passengers except Naeemat were allowed to leave. The plane left for Karachi at 12.45 pm after a delay of around 100 minutes," Multan Airport Facilitation In-charge Muhammad Majid said.
He said that Naeemat, a resident of Chowk Kumharawala (Multan), was handed over to the Cantonment police and a case under Section 506, 353 and 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered against him.
According to police sources, the disruptive passenger informed the investigators that he had borrowed Rs300,000 from someone but was not in a position to pay off. One of his friends persuaded him to play the trick and security agencies would arrest him and send him to jail which would debar his creditor from recovering the debt.
He, however, also told the investigators that a man sitting behind him had indeed informed him that a bomb had been planted on the plane.
Funds: The Punjab government has released funds of Rs51.3 million for health, education and other projects in Multan district.
This was stated by District Coordination Officer Fazeel Asghar here on Friday while presiding over a meeting attended by EDOs of finance, health, education, works and other departments.