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Police details with sniffer dogs search the exterior of a Boeing 767 at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo yesterday after a bomb hoax had been raised through a note left in the plane

Whinsley Masara and Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Reporters
A BOMB scare at the Joshua Mqabuko Airport yesterday grounded a Harare-bound Air Zimbabwe plane by almost six hours.

Airport authorities called in bomb squads from the police and army after a threatening note was left on the seat of a Boeing 767 which had touched down at 9.15AM from Harare later than the scheduled arrival time of 7.45AM.

The note, written on a small piece of paper and seen by Chronicle reporters, had the words: “F**K YOU! I will kill all of you today.”

The note was picked up by cleaners who were preparing the plane for the return flight to Harare. It sparked a security alert which saw police, army and state security agents swarm the plane with sniffer dogs in search of a phantom bomb.

Officials said they had no choice as Civil Aviation regulations demanded that the airport officials call the country’s security services in situations where they suspected there could be a bomb on the plane.

One official said: “The note led officials to suspect that there was a bomb in the plane prompting us to inform security officials who rushed to the airport.”

The source said any form of threat at the airport is taken seriously as it is one of the country’s high security areas.

“This is a security area, so any threats are taken seriously. Even if a passenger threatens someone before take-off, that person will be removed from the flight. So the threat was taken seriously,” he said.

The airport officials tried to calm passengers by claiming that their departure delays were due to a technical fault on the plane which was due to depart for Harare at 8:15AM.

One of the passengers, Neil Mackenzie, said some passengers wondered how a simple technical fault could result in the bomb squad making investigations on the plane. He said the presence of the army and police caused passengers to be suspicious.

“It’s not the first time AirZim has delayed its flights due to a technical fault, but today they called the army and the police with sniffer dogs. We’re not being told the truth by the officials. When I then heard from a friend that there was talk that there might be a bomb on the plane, I believed him. I think we should have been informed about this,” he said.

The plane eventually took off at 1.35PM. By then, some passengers had already cancelled their flight and left the airport.

One airport official who spoke to The Chronicle said the flight from Harare had a lot of schoolchildren, and they suspected the note was written by one of the boys to a mate – who had forgotten it on the seat.

“You know how it is when you’re young in class, you write your mate a note gossiping about the teacher standing in front of you. What you never do, of course, is to forget it on your desk otherwise all hell will break loose. That’s the common feeling here, that it was just banter between two boys who didn’t realise this might cause an airport shutdown,” said the official, who declined to be named.

Airport bosses declined to comment. Air Zimbabwe’s acting general manager Margaret Mantiziba asked for questions in writing, but said she would only be able to respond today.

Security officials forced The Chronicle’s photographer, Rejoice Mberengwa, to delete all the pictures she had taken at the scene.

Police spokesperson for Bulawayo Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo referred all questions concerning the airport bomb-scare to Police Headquarters in Harare.