Authorities diverted an Indian airplane to a Dubai military aire base this week after receiving an anonymous phone call that terror suspects were on board, an airline official said Thursday. The call was later determined to be a hoax.
Indian flight IC 683 was diverted to al-Minhad air base in Dubai late Tuesday after authorities in India got the phone call, said Pankaj Srivastav, regional manager of Indian, formerly called Indian Airlines.
Indian officials contacted security authorities in Dubai, who ordered the plane to divert course from Dubai International Airport to the military base.
The passengers disembarked safely and processed their entry into the city, and the call turned out to be a hoax, Srivastav said.
The official Emirates News Agency on Wednesday had identified the aircraft as belonging to Air India.
The incident came two days after Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri warned in a videotape that the terror group would strike the Persian Gulf and Israel. Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.
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