File Photo of Delhi Airport
A "suspicious" balloon reported at the the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi today belonged to the met office, Delhi Police said today.
An alert had been sounded after authorities received a call about a "big balloon" hovering over the airport today.
Police said the call centre of the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) received a call about spotting of the big balloon following which the airport was put on alert.
A senior police officer at the airport D K Gupta said all security agencies have been informed about the information.
"The airport was put on high alert after the DIAL call centre received a call about a big balloon spotted near the airport this evening. The call was received around 5 pm and the caller said that the big balloon was heading from the airport to Aya Nagar following which an alert was issued at the IGI and all security agencies have been informed about it," Mr Gupta told news agency PTI.
Later Delhi Police reached out to NDTV to clarify the object was weather balloon.Yesterday, an Air Force fighter jet was used to
intercept and shoot down a balloon in Barmer in Rajasthan.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the balloon came from across the border but was not equipped with any surveillance devices or contentious material.