Bomb threat keeps Madurai police busy on Monday

MADURAI: A bomb hoax call to the Madurai district collectorate and corporation office on Monday morning left the police in a tizzy. The caller claimed that bombs planted in the collector's office and corporation building would explode in a few minutes leading to panic in both campuses. The Bomb Detection Disposal Squad (BDDS) and dog squad searched the premises but could not find anything.
A revenue official said the call left the staff in the building scared but police and BDDS officials told them that it could be just a hoax and conducted a two-hour search on the campuses. Police are now on the look out for the miscreant.
Senior police officials said bomb threat calls have become a regular event in the city. However, every call is followed by an intense search to confirm that the threat was not real. Police are miffed that they have not been able to trace the caller and book the person.
The call on Monday, police said, was made from a public phone booth at Anna Bus Terminal. However, police could not trace the caller, a man. Police have issued a warning that bomb hoax callers would be dealt with severely. However, the problem has persisted.
A couple of days ago, a senior police officer received a bomb threat on his mobile. The unidentified caller said a bomb was to go off in a Mariamman temple in the city without mentioning the name of the temple or its location. Not to be caught napping, police searched all the important Mariamman temples in the city. Later, it was confirmed that the threat was a hoax.