The New Zealand Police closed Dunedin Airport on Sunday after reports of a suspicious package found on the airfield. “Dunedin Airport is currently closed,” a police statement said according to AFP. “Police are at the scene and specialist teams have been deployed to determine the nature of the package.”
An unidentified police official told the New Zealand Herald that the package was first reported at 8.10 pm local time. (12.40 pm Indian Standard Time). An Air New Zealand flight from Wellington which was due at 9.30 pm local time (2 pm IST) was affected.
The police evacuated the airport after reports of the suspicious package. A bomb squad is heading to the city from Christchurch, Stuff.co.nz reported. An Air New Zealand staff member said on condition of anonymity that the terminal building had not been evacuated.
Christchurch was the scene of a terrorist attack on two mosques on Friday. A white nationalist gunman, who hailed from Dunedin, had shot 50 worshippers dead in the two mosques. New Zealand has been in a state of high alert since then.
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