A harmless-looking parcel, waiting in transit at the Kolkata GPO on Wednesday, spread panic among officials after it started to emit a “strange buzzing sound”.
The sound prompted GPO officials to call the police fearing there was a “ticking bomb” inside the parcel, police said.
Bomb disposal squad sleuths took over an hour to unwrap the box and found a battery-operated liquid sprayer inside that had got automatically activated.
A GPO official said the parcel had come from Karnataka and was heading for Siliguri.
"It was emanating a strange sound that sent several GPO officials into a tizzy. We isolated the parcel and called the police,” said an official at the GPO.
A team of officers from Hare Street police station inspected the parcel and alerted the bomb disposal squad.
“It was a big parcel. We cordoned off the area. The sound made us think that there was some type of a circuit inside,” said an officer of the bomb disposal squad.
After taking due precautions, the team unwrapped the box and opened the cover to find a liquid spray machine inside.
“The battery-operated machine was lifted out of the box. On a closer look, it was found that the machine had somehow got activated. There was no liquid inside,” said a senior police officer.
“The machine could be used for spraying insecticides”, read the product details on the box.
A senior official of the Kolkata GPO said as nothing suspicious was found in the parcel, it would be repacked and sent to its destination.
“We have got a green signal from the police. Hence, it will be repacked and redirected to its destination in Siliguri,” the official said.
