The Mumbai police on Sunday, 3 December, arrested Akshay Shankar Gaikar, a 24-year old security worker, for planting a ‘fake’ terror note about an ‘ISIS attack’ in the bathroom of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport last month, Mumbai Mirror reported.
The employee was the same one who had reported the note in the first place.
On being asked for the reason behind his action, Gaikar reportedly told the police that he wanted to see the panic the note would cause, and how officials would handle the situation, reported India Today. Gaikar’s employment at the airport would soon be terminated, the report added.
We have arrested him and he has been sent to judicial custody by the Bandra court till December 16. When he had visited the toilet (in the footage), he is seen nervous and carrying something in his pocket.A police officer from Sahar told Mumbai Mirror
The authorities had landed on Gaikar as a suspect on the basis of the CCTV camera footage, which showed only him visiting the bathroom in question, looking nervous and carrying something in his pocket.
Security at the airport had been heightened after a note about an "ISIS attack" was found near its cargo facility, according to sources.
India Today reported that a three-hour search operation had been launched right after, and flight operations had even been suspended for a brief period of time.
They said a private security guard found the note in a toilet in the cargo section around 6 pm and it read “attack the cargo on 26.01.18 or anytime – ISIS.”
Soon after the note was discovered, the cargo terminal area had been evacuated and a thorough check by the bomb disposal squad had been conducted.
Bomb disposal teams of the airport guarding force CISF and police had also scanned the spot and contents of the note, the sources said.
"While the cargo area is not secured by the CISF, passenger checks and vigil has been enhanced in the main airport terminal area," a senior CISF officer had said.
(with inputs from PTI, Mumbai Mirror and India Today)
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