Suspicious packet sends Mangalore Airport into tizzy

Mangalore: Mohammed Abdul Khader of Uppala in Kerala, who was travelling to Dubai, had a harrowing time at the Mangalore International Airport on Sunday night when he was summoned for inquiry by the police after they found a material suspected to be an explosive in his baggage. The suspected material was a tablet PC with a bulge! Khader’s neighbour had given the ‘package,’ to be handed it over to her brother at Dubai. Though she had told him it was a book, it was in fact a damaged tablet PC placed inside the book to be repaired in Dubai by her brother.

Like Shah Rukh Khan in the film My Name is Khan, Mohammed Abdul Khader of Uppala in Kerala might have thought of repeating - "My name is Khader and I am not a terrorist," when he was summoned for inquiry by the police after they found a material suspected to be an explosive in his baggage. Confusion began on Saturday night when authorities at the Mangalore International Airport detected 'suspicious material', in the baggage of Khader. The suspected material was a tablet PC with a bulge and hydrogen peroxide!

The suspicion arose because the tablet PC had a bulge and wires were crudely tied. Khader's neighbour had given the 'package,' to be handed it over to her brother at Dubai. Though she had told him it was a book, it was in fact a damaged tablet PC placed inside the book to be repaired in Dubai by her brother.

When authorities questioned Khader, he told them that it was a book, without knowing that the tablet PC was inside the book, while the scanner showed that it was an electronic gadget. When Khader fumbled for answers, the authorities grew suspicious. A packet of hydrogen peroxide he was carrying for medical purposes only complicated the situation for him.  

Khader, who had completed his one-month leave, was to board the 11.05 pm flight to Dubai from Mangalore when the authorities took him in. A bomb detection and disposal squad that arrived in Mangalore on Sunday afternoon ruled out that it was a bomb. By then, Khader's family members arrived at the police station. "Khader was on one-month leave for his wedding and was going back to Dubai on Saturday. Our neighbour had given him a package, and he had put it in his baggage without knowing the contents of the package," Khader's father Mohammed Haji M.K. told reporters.

Mangalore city DCP K.V. Jagadish said that no explosive material was found in the baggage. He said, “It was an electronic gadget. As we had suspicions about the package, it was kept in a safe place and we took all the precautionary measures. The BDDS team from Bengaluru arrived in the afternoon and found that it did not contain any explosive material. They found that the battery of the tablet PC had swollen as it was damaged".

He said that Khader was only summoned for inquiry and was not arrested.