Pune Airport holds annual bomb threat mock exercise to test security agencies' readiness

Vimaan Nagar, October 24, 2026: Pune Airport held its annual bomb threat mock exercise on Saturday. The aim was to see how prepared the airport is for a situation such as a bomb threat, and how well security agencies and other departments concerned coordinate with one another.

Santosh Dhoke, director of Pune Airport, said the exercise was conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Pune Airport, together with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and other agencies, under the Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP).

The exercise began at 11 am with a tabletop session in the conference hall of the AAI administrative building. Officials discussed the hypothetical threat scenario, the responsibilities of each agency and the set methods of communication among them. The mock drill in the terminal building followed at 11.30 am.

According to the drill, an unknown person informed an IndiGo manager in Pune that an unattended bag was lying in the check-in area and was suspected to contain a dummy improvised explosive device (IED). The manager informed the CISF Security Operational Control Room. The control room activated the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and alerted the duty posts concerned. Passengers, staff and concessionaires in the area were moved to a designated safe location.

The suspect bag was then covered with a blast inhibitor and the surrounding area was cordoned off. Security personnel examined the bag in several ways, including a dog squad check, an explosive vapour detector (EVD), a non-linear junction detector (NLJD), an electronic stethoscope and a handheld real time viewing system (RTVS).

After the set checks, the presence of an IED was taken as confirmed for the purposes of the exercise. A meeting of the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was then called, after which the situation was declared a specific threat as part of the exercise.

The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) then handled the suspect bag with a telescopic manipulator and placed it in a suspect luggage containment vessel (SLCV). After the hypothetical Render Safe Procedure (RSP) was completed, the bag was taken for further action to the designated Safe Disposal Area (SDA), also called the cooling pit.

A dummy IED was also found in the cargo area. In a separate hypothetical scenario, a dummy IED had been placed near India Post in the airport's cargo area. The state's Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad found it successfully and showed that it is ready to deal with security threats in the cargo zone.

Representatives of the CISF, the Indian Air Force (IAF), Pune Police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire services, customs, immigration, health department officials, airlines and other airport stakeholders took part in the exercise.

The exercise was meant to test the operational readiness of the agencies involved, clarify their respective roles and responsibilities, and see how effective communication and coordination among them are during a hypothetical bomb threat on the airport premises.

Dhoke said such mock exercises are an important part of an airport's emergency preparedness. They let agencies test their response methods, catch any gaps in coordination and improve their ability to deal effectively with security situations, he said.