BHIBANESWAR: Odisha forest department personnel launched a search operation at the Biju Patnaik International Airport on Saturday after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard near the dumpsite, officials said.

Forest department officials along with local police scanned the area with nets, traps and other equipment, but found no trace of the leopard, they said.

Earlier in the morning, the woman, a worker at the dumpsite, claimed to have spotted a leopard there, a forest official said.

However, only jackal pug marks were found during the search operation at the high security premises of the airport, “but there was no trace of any leopard”, he said. he clarified.

“We have tied a few chickens to nearby trees as bait. If a leopard is nearby, we will catch it the moment it comes to feed on the chickens,” the official said.

In 2019, a leopard was captured on the premises of the Bhubaneswar airport and later released in the nearby Chandaka forest.

Authorities at Biju Patnaik International Airport and Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda also received threats regarding the presence of bombs on two different flights on Thursday, but these later turned out to be hoaxes, said those responsible.