According to top sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, there were multiple rounds of meetings with different stakeholders, including security agencies.
The spate of bomb threats to flights continued on Thursday with at least nine more flights receiving threats on social media. These include five flights of Air India, two of Vistara, and one of IndiGo. This takes the number of such incidents around 30 this week.
Earlier today, a Mumbai-bound Vistara flight carrying 147 people made an emergency landing upon its arrival from Frankfurt in Germany following a bomb threat to the aircraft.
Vistara, in a statement, said that its Frankfurt-Mumbai flight received a security alert but landed safely here. “The Vistara flight UK 028 operating from Frankfurt to Mumbai on October 16, 2024, was subject to a security threat received on social media,” the airline said.
“Five Air India flights received a security threat on social media today. These have been duly reported to the regulatory bodies and all laid down procedures were strictly followed as per guidance of the regulatory bodies. All the five flights have made a safe landing. Air India is committed to and accords top priority to the safety and security of its passengers and crew,” NDTV reported citing an Air India official.
About 10 social media handles that issued hoax bomb threats to multiple Indian airliners this week have been suspended or blocked by cyber security agencies till now, official sources said Thursday. These handles were “analysed” by a joint team of cyber, aviation security and intelligence agencies following which orders were issued to suspend these accounts as they continued to issue “mindless” threats, PTI reported.
On Wednesday, Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight QP1335 with 184 passengers declared an emergency and returned to Delhi after it reportedly received a bomb threat. Minutes later, a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight from Mumbai had to be diverted to Ahmedabad due to similar reasons.
This spate of bomb threats started on Monday when three international flights of Indian carriers had received hoax bomb threats. Another ten flights had received threats on Tuesday, while on Wednesday, there were at least seven threats.
Mumbai Police Registers 7 FIRs
The Mumbai Police has registered seven first information reports (FIRs) in connection with the threats.
1st FIR- 14 Oct- Bomb threats in Indigo (Mumbai to Jeddha, Mumbai to Muscat) and Air India (Mumbai to New York)
2nd FIR- 15 Oct- Bomb threat in SpiceJet (Darbhanga to Mumbai)
3rd FIR- 16 Oct- Bomb threat in Indigo (Mumbai to Delhi)
4th FIR- 16 Oct- Bomb threats in Indigo ( Mumbai to Singapore, Riyadh to Mumbai and Chennai to Lucknow)
5th FIR- 16 Oct- Bomb threat in Akasa Air (Kolkata to Mumbai)
6th FIR- 16 Oct- Bomb threat in SpiceJet (Darbhanga to Mumbai)
7th FIR- 17 Oct- Bomb threats in Vistara (Frankfurt to Mumbai) and Indigo (Istanbul to Mumbai).
Bomb Hoax Calls To Flights Made By Minors, Pranksters: Aviation Minister
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said that initial investigations do not point to a conspiracy and that most of the calls had been “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,” NDTV quoted Naidu as saying.
A minor was apprehended for sending bomb threats to four flights using a fake social media account that he made in his friend’s name to implicate him in the matter. According to sources, the minor was arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon and agencies are verifying if there is a larger conspiracy behind these threats.
MoCA plans stringent rules
According to top sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), there were multiple rounds of meetings with different stakeholders, including security agencies.
The ministry is also planning to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list. Under this, such a person will be barred from flying any airline.
It is also looking at amending existing rules, including those related to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), in order to ensure stringent punishments are in place for the culprits.
On Wednesday, Naidu said law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing all cases of bomb threats against airlines and the government is closely monitoring the situation.
