A Kolkata resident recently arrested by Sahar police for carrying inflammable material on a flight to Addis Ababa has said that he was unaware that the contents were inflammable.
Samir Biswas told the police that he had been asked to carry the five-litre plastic can and two-kg powder to his employer Naveen Sharma in Congo. The police have now issued a lookout notice for Sharma, who hails from Haryana.
A court has remanded the other five accused to judicial custody.
Biswas’ bag on a Mumbai-Addis Ababa Ethiopian Airlines flight (ET 641) caught fire on August 16, leading to the arrest of the five individuals for allegedly compromising air safety by carrying flammable chemical substances.
A police officer stated that the exact reason why the accused carried the flammable chemical would be determined only after the arrest of Sharma.
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On August 16, at Terminal 2, around 10.30am, the flight crew noticed smoke emanating from a checked-in bag. Biswas, 31, who had checked in the substance, was swiftly deboarded. There were over 200 passengers on board. The type of substance and the motive behind carrying it have not yet been disclosed, though sources suspect it to be hydrogen spirit. Biswas, who completed training at the Industrial Training Institute, was on his way to Congo for a job.
The arrested individuals are Biswas; Vishwanath Senjurdhar, 37, from Ambernath; Nandan Yadav, 26, from Andheri (East); Akhilesh Yadav, 28, from Andheri (East); and Suresh Singh, 46, from Dindoshi.
