For the past many days amid a spate of bomb hoaxes on several flights, over 85 flights of IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and Akasa Air received similar threats on Thursday. With this, over 250 flights have been impacted by these threats for the past 10 days.
According to officials, 25 Akasa Air flights and 20 each from Air India, IndiGo and Vistara got the bomb threats. More than 170 flights received bomb threats, with a majority of them originating from social media platforms. Later they turned out to be hoaxes, troubling hundreds of passengers and creating a security headache for paramilitary personnel and aviation authorities.
The bomb threats have led the government to plan making those involved in hoax calls be put on the no-fly list. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said that making hoax bomb threat calls to airlines will be made a cognisable offence. The affected flights include services from Akasa Air, Air India, IndiGo and Vistara, operating from Delhi and elsewhere across the country to various domestic and international destinations.
The Delhi Police has filed eight cases in connection with bomb threats, and according to a senior police official, the threats’ messages were received through anonymous posts on X which were later suspended by the authorities. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with CEOs and representatives of airlines in Delhi over the issue on October 19.
Earlier on Wednesday, the central government pulled up social media giant X, for its handling of the situation and said that it amounted to “abetting crime”. Ram Mohan Naidu, Civil Aviation Minister said on Wednesday the government was following all necessary protocols and was in control of the situation.
The minister urged caution, saying, ‘I wouldn’t make any hasty decision on this. Let us wait for the thorough investigation to happen. Once we get hold of who is behind this, only then can we tell if there is a conspiracy’. The Civil Aviation Minister emphasised the involvement of social media and cyber channels in these threats.
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