Hoax bomb threats: Aviation security body meets CEOs of domestic airlines

Zulfiquar Hasan, Director General of BCAS, led the meeting at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in Delhi, the headquarters of the Airports Authority of India, reported India Today.

Hasan assured the airline executives that all necessary security protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) were being strictly followed.

In the last few days, over 70 flights operated by Indian carriers have received bomb threats, all of which have turned out to be hoaxes.

On Saturday alone, more than 30 flights were affected by these threats.

Airlines impacted by the threats include Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, SpiceJet, Star Air, and Alliance Air. In one instance, a note was found in the lavatory of a flight, claiming a bomb was on board.

According to an NDTV report, Akasa Air said, "Some of our flights operating on October 19, 2024, have received security alerts today. As per safety and security procedures, all passengers had to be deplaned as the local authorities followed necessary procedures. We request your understanding as our team on the ground did everything possible to reduce the inconvenience."

In response to these incidents, Mumbai Police, who have filed multiple FIRs, detained a 17-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh in connection with bomb threats made to three flights originating from Mumbai on October 14.

Police teams are working with Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers and social media platforms to trace the origin of these threats, though VPNs complicate tracking by masking users' IP addresses.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is considering stricter regulations to prevent hoax bomb threats, including the potential placement of offenders on the no-fly list.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stated on Thursday that initial investigations into the recent spate of bomb threats against flights do not indicate a larger conspiracy. He added that most of the hoax calls were made by "minors and pranksters."

"We can't comment on a conspiracy but whatever little we have known, it (the threats) is coming from minors or some pranksters. For very little, petty things, they are trying to issue threats on social media or through phone calls. So these are isolated incidents, there is no kind of conspiracy we can comment on," Naidu said, reported NDTV.