Mangaluru, Jan 21: Several people have been questioned and many suspected places searched as part of the probe into finding out the culprit behind the planting of Improvised Explosive Device at Mangaluru International Airport on January 20, city police commissioner P S Harsha said here on Tuesday.
The bag containing possible explosive substances was found by a CISF official at the entry point of the airport on Monday. it was later defused by the bomb squad.
The commissioner said three police teams probing the case are looking into all angles and hoped to crack it at the earliest.
The probe was progressing well and the suspect who planted the IED would be nabbed soon, he said.
Among those questioned was the auto rickshaw driver in whose vehicle the suspect reached the airport.
Police are also trying to find out whether there is any link between the incident and the bomb threat call received later by the terminal manager against a Bengaluru bound IndiGo flight which left hours late after necessary clearance.
The Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad has sent the residue of the controlled explosion of the device carried out at Kenjar to the Forensic Science Laboratory to find out the nature of the explosive.
Harsha said people have been sending photos and videos of persons looking similar to the suspect to the police, which are being examined.
The auto rickshaw driver who carried the suspect to the airport told the police that the man had another bag in his possession which he left at a salon at Kenjar before going to the airport.
He collected the bag on the way back and got down at Pumpwell junction, the driver said.
Meanwhile, a team of the National Security Guard (NSG) arrived at the MIA on Tuesday to conduct a detailed enquiry into Monday's incident.
They examined the spot where the bomb was found and the entry points to the airport.
The team also visited Kenjar where the IED was detonated by the bomb disposal squad and examined the area to find out the power of the explosion.

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Melbourne (AP): A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, Australian police documents released on Monday allege.
The men recorded a video about their justification for the meticulously planned attack, according to a police statement of facts that was made public following Naveed Akram's video court appearance Monday from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury.
Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.
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The New South Wales state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred on Monday from a hospital to a prison. Neither facility was identified by authorities.
The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode.
Police described the devices as three aluminium pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, black powder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.
Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.
The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia's worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.
The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.
The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.
Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.
Police said a video found on Naveed Akram's phone shows him with his father "reciting their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”
The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to the Islamic State,” police said.
Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.
“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.
