Karan's Jehaad creates bomb scare at US airport

10 May,2009 06:07 AM IST |   |  Aditya Anand

Newark's Terminal B is evacuated after security gets misled by the fake bombs in crew member's baggage


Newark's Terminal B is evacuated after security gets misled by the fake bombs in crew member's baggage

It was a scene straight out of the movies at Newark's Liberty International Airport on Friday, when a security scan revealed a couple of suspected bombs in a Mumbai-bound passengers' baggage leading to Terminal B being evacuated.

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor (seen here in a file photo) star in the Karan Johar production

But this was not before officials discovered that the bombs were actually fake and belonged to the crew of the under-production Karan Johar film Jehaad starring Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi. The film's plot is rooted in terrorism and that probably explains why the crew was carrying fake bombs.

Police officials at the Port Authority Police, under which the Liberty Airport falls, told Sunday MiD DAY that the crew had failed to inform the airport security or airline staff about the fake bombs.u00a0

"After 9/11, the securityu00a0 system is designed to sound an alarm once the scanner locates anything that matches a possible bomb," Christopher Trucillo, an on-duty police officer said. Though not on duty at the time of the evacuation, Trucillo claimed to have been told about the same by a few of his colleagues.

Both Karan Johar and the film's director Rensil D'Silva were unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts. The cast and crew of Jehaad have been continuously shooting in New York despite threats of swine flu and warnings by health advisors to Indians travelling to the US.

Sources said that the unit was on a 20-day shoot in New York since the schedule had to be completed because Karan had waited a year to shoot due to weather conditions. The unit was in Philadelphia last year shooting for the movie and had to postpone the rest of the shoot to wait for summer. The cast and crew was on their way back in Mumbai to shoot for another 20 days before the film goes in for post-production.

This is the second incident in recent times that the Indian film industry is making news at US airports. Malayalam superstar Mammootty was detained at JFK airport on April 29, New York and denied entry because of his passport. On his passport, his original name Mohammed Kutty Ismail Paniparambil was given and with the tight security in US, any person coming to US bearing a Muslim name like Mohammed Ismail was always questioned.

Mammootty, who had gone to US to campaign and raise funds for his childhood friend Stanley Kalathara, was kept under custody for about two hours till the Indian Consulate came to his rescue. He had to endure a grueling session of questioning. Stanley is an attorney and a Democratic candidate contesting for the New York City Council, among the Malayalee immigrants in New York.
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Newark Terminal B evacuated bomb scare Karan Johar Jehaad fake bombs luggage Saif Ali Khan