In the past 24 hours, over ten flights operated by Indian airlines have been subjected to bomb threats, prompting extensive security measures and diversions. Specifically, five flights each from IndiGo and Akasa were implicated, alongside three Vistara flights and one from Air India Express that were also targeted.On Saturday morning, three international flights operated by Vistara Airlines received bomb threats, all of which were ultimately determined to be false alarms following comprehensive security evaluations. A Vistara flight traveling from Delhi to London was redirected to Frankfurt, where thorough security checks were performed before the flight continued its journey, having found no credible threats.
The other two Vistara flights that faced threats were headed to Paris and Hong Kong from Delhi. Flight UK21, bound for Paris, landed safely at Charles de Gaulle Airport, where it was directed to an isolation area for security inspections. Likewise, flight UK161 to Hong Kong arrived safely at Hong Kong International Airport, where it underwent necessary security protocols.An Air India Express flight traveling from Dubai to Jaipur, carrying 189 passengers, was subjected to a bomb threat communicated through email, as reported by officials. A comprehensive security inspection was carried out at Jaipur airport; however, no suspicious items were discovered. Several IndiGo flights were also targeted with threats, including flight 6E 17 from Mumbai to Istanbul, flight 6E 11 from Delhi to Istanbul, and flight 6E 184 from Jodhpur to Delhi. Additionally, Akasa Air indicated that its flight QP 1366, which was set to depart from Bengaluru to Mumbai on Friday, received a security alert shortly before its scheduled takeoff. Over the past week, at least two dozen flights have encountered similar threats, all of which have ultimately been determined to be false alarms.
Investigating agencies have identified recurring phrases and terminology in the fraudulent threats, such as “bombs,” “blood will spread everywhere,” “explosive devices,” “this is not a joke,” “you will all die,” and the Hindi phrase “bomb rakhwa dia hai,” which translates to “a bomb has been placed,” among others. On October 14, Mumbai Police apprehended a 17-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh in relation to threats directed at three flights departing from Mumbai. Some of the IP addresses associated with the threats were traced back to international locations, including London. In response, various police teams have reached out to Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers and social media platforms to gather information about the origin of the threat messages, as VPNs obscure IP addresses, complicating the process of pinpointing physical locations. To combat the issue of hoax bomb threats, the Civil Aviation Ministry is considering the introduction of more stringent regulations, which may include placing offenders on a no-fly list.
