A total of 10 major Indian flights, including Air India, were grounded or forced to make emergency landings in less than 48 hours after receiving bomb threats. Though all turned out to be a hoax, the incidents had prompted security agencies to undertake specific counter terrorist drills at various airports across the country ahead of the festivities.
Among the flights was New Delhi-Chicago Air India flight (AI127) with 211 people onboard which was diverted to Iqaluit Airport in Canada following a hoax threat posted online.
10 things to know about bomb threats on Indian flights
1 – As many as seven bomb threats on Tuesday came via microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
2 – On Monday, three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats. The messages posted were later declared a hoax.
3 – A report by Hindustan Times quoted sources as saying that the suspect X handle tagged the respective airlines’ and some police handles, claiming that bombs were placed on the mentioned planes.
4 – On Monday (October 14), four different X handles issued similar threats to three international flights originating from Mumbai.
5 – ANI quoted sources with the CISF as saying that several accounts posting bomb threats have been identified and suspended. They also said that as per information, some threats originated in London and from other countries.
6 – A minor boy from Rajnandgaon Chhattisgarh has been detained for allegedly posting bomb threats on X. The 17-year-old boy and his father and another person were summoned by the Mumbai police. The teenager was questioned and presented before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which sent him to four-day custody for police inquiry. The probe revealed that an individual using the handles @fazluddin69 and @fazluddin27077, posted the bomb threat messages.
7 – The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has been investigating the matter and has sought the help of Indian cyber-security agencies as well as police to trace the person or people behind these threats.
8 – On Monday, three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats. Mumbai-New York Air India flight – AI119 was diverted to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and rescheduled, while two IndiGo flights Mumbai-Muscat (6E1275) and Mumbai-Jeddah (6E56) were delayed by several hours as the planes were taken to isolation bays for security checks following the bomb threat.
9 – On Tuesday, bomb threats were issued to Air India Express Jaipur-Bengaluru via Ayodhya (IX765) flight, SpiceJet Darbhanga-Mumbai (SG116) flight, Akasa Air Bagdogra-Bengaluru (QP1373) flight, IndiGo Dammam (Saudi Arabia)-Lucknow (6E98) flight, Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi (9I650) flight and Air India Delhi to Chicago (AI127) flight.
10 – An Air India Express Madurai-Singapore (IX684) flight also received an bomb threat alert on Tuesday. Following which, Singapore deployed two F-15SG fighter jets to escort the Indian carrier away from populated areas before the aircraft landed safely at the Changi airport.
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10 Indian flights receive bomb threats in less than 48 hours: 10 things to know
