Dubai: A man from Kerala has been arrested after a bomb hoax caused by him delayed an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah to Calicut by at least two hours.

There was panic at the airport on Sunday when authorities, checking the luggage of passengers of Air Arabia flight G9 595, found a bag with a label on which it was written in Malayalam that it contained a bomb. The owner of the bag, Sakkaria Kunjabdullah, 23, was arrested by the airport police.

Quoting a source, the Khaleej Times newspaper reported Kunjabdullah belonged to a Muslim fundamentalist organization from Kerala and he was out to create a scare at the Calicut airport if the prank was not noticed by the Sharjah airport officials.

"The officials spotted the message written in Malayalam on Kunjabdullah's baggage which mentioned that the bag contains a bomb. Some slogans were also written on the baggage,"  the source told the newspaper.

Passengers who had checked in were stopped from boarding the aircraft. Only after it was found that it was a hoax and Kunjabdullah arrested were the passengers allowed to board the aircraft.

Source : IANS