The incident happened yesterday morning.

According to police spokesperson, Thabo Covane, the scanner at the airport detected the metal inside the bag and the round object was visible on the monitor. When the security officer physically searched the bag, a drill hand grenade was found.

The suspect walked into the airport with the drill hand grenade inside his bag despite pictures at the counter with messages of prohibited objects that passengers cannot board the flight with or bring to the airport.

Covane explains, “an immediate decision was taken to activate the evacuation alarm because of the possibility of a threat in the terminal building. The Bomb Disposal Unit was also summoned to the scene to handle the evidence and sweep the building. The building was declared safe and operations continued as normal.

"A case docket for possession of a hand grenade shell and interference with Airport operations - Aviation Act 13/ 2000 Section 134 was opened.”

READ: Flight diverted following bomb scare at Bram Fischer

OFM News reported earlier that a flight into Bloemfontein yesterday morning had to be diverted at the last minute following a reported bomb threat at the airport.

The airport confirmed to OFM News that at around 08:30, security officials alerted local police of a bomb threat. This, after they detected explosives in one of the passengers' belongings during a security check.

According to the airport, the police’s bomb squad analysed the explosive. They determined that it was a dummy grenade and the passenger to whom it belonged was taken in by law enforcement officials for questioning.

OFM News