Mumbai: Six flights against which bomb threats were made via social media made scheduled landings at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Saturday, a police official said.
These threats came from a single X account and were categorised as "hoax" and "non-specific" after thorough checks, the official added. The account, of a user named 'Adha', mentioned flights of several airlines, though only six were scheduled to land at Mumbai International Airport, the official said. These were from Delhi, Goa, Darbhanga etc, the police official informed.
As per sources, more than 30 flights operated by various Indian airlines received bomb threats since Saturday morning. They said flights of Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, SpiceJet, Star Air and Alliance Air have received threats. In at least one of the flights, a note was found in the lavatory saying there was a bomb on board.
A report from Ernakulam said that the Alliance Flight 9I506, scheduled to travel from Kochi to Bengaluru, became the target of a bomb threat earlier today. The threat, which also affected multiple airports and airlines under Alliance Air, was communicated via an X handle at around 2 PM. In response to the threat, the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) convened at the Kochi Domestic Terminal Office at 2:30 PM to evaluate the situation. Following an investigation, it was confirmed that the bomb threat was a hoax.
As a precaution, security measures were significantly heightened, with intensified physical examinations of passengers and baggage. The BTAC committee recommended these enhanced security arrangements, which were promptly implemented. Authorities continue to investigate the origin of the threat as airport operations return to normal. Passengers are reminded to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
The Civil Aviation Ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list. Mumbai police, which has filed multiple FIRs over such threats, had detained a minor boy from Chhattisgarh with regard to one of them. (with agency inputs)
