Perth Airport evacuated after bottles containing suspicious liquid were detected in passenger’s bag

A man flying to Perth in Australia from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrying “bottles of suspicious-looking liquid” in his baggage forced the evacuation of the Qantas Airways terminal at the domestic airport in Perth on January 25, 2010.

The man in question, who was on the fight of Emirates, the national airline of Dubai, had arrived at Perth Airport in the morning. He, however, managed to jump quickly into a connecting flight bound for Sydney, where the authorities detained him as soon as he arrived.

He was taken away from the plane to be questioned by the law-enforcement authorities in Sydney.

The evacuation of the Qantas Airways terminal at Perth Airport – which started at 9.55 a.m. on January 25, 2010, after suspicious bottles of liquid were detected in the man’s baggage – lasted for over 45 minutes.

Authorities said flights at Perth Airport returned to normal by the afternoon.

Australia’s federal police have taken the bag containing the bottles and are examining the contents.

Though police chemists and the bomb squad later confirmed that the liquid found in the man’s baggage was not explosive, they are yet to reveal what the liquid was.

Five flights were delayed and one regional flight was cancelled at Perth Airport because of the evacuation, an official of Qantas Airways, the flag-carrier airline of Australia, said.

A large number of passengers were left stranded at Pert Airport without being given any information on the situation and without getting their bags, before a public announcement asked the passengers to leave the airport building urgently.

The employees of Qantas Airways were seen struggling to process outgoing passengers, who formed long queues and whose flights had been delayed by up to 3 hours.