The menace of hoax bomb threat continues after 24 Indian airlines were threatened to be blown up on Sunday prompting flights travelling abroad to enable security protocols.
This week alone, over 90 Indian flights have received bomb threats. Although most of them turned out to be hoaxes, the threats have caused travel disruptions.
Which flights received bomb threats today?
Leading airlines including IndiGo and Vistara received the threats on October 20. Six of these were addressed to IndiGo while and equal number were received by Vistara. Other flights that were affected by this include Air India and Akasa Air, according to PTI.
IndiGo said that flight numbers 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E 87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 133 (Pune to Jodhpur), and 6E 112 (Goa to Ahmedabad) received the bomb threats.
The threats directed at Vistara flights included UK 25 (Delhi to Frankfurt), UK 106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK 146 (Bali to Delhi), UK 116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK 110 (Singapore to Pune), and UK 107 (Mumbai to Singapore).
Security alerts were received for six Akasa Air flights – QP 1102 (Ahmedabad to Mumbai), QP 1378 (Delhi to Goa), QP 1385 (Mumbai to Bagdogra), QP 1406 (Delhi to Hyderabad), QP 1519 (Kochi to Mumbai) and QP 1526 (Lucknow to Mumbai).
What action is being taken?
As it turns out, most of these threats are being posted on social media. Cyber security officials have suspended about 10 of the accounts used to publish the bomb threats.
The accounts, mostly on X, used some common phrasings in their notes like “bombs”, “blood will spread everywhere”, “explosive devices”, “this is not a joke” and “you will all die”, an analysis of the messages reveal.
According to a report by the Indian Express, nearly 70 per cent of the threats made in the past week were posted on a single unverified account on X that goes by the handle @adamlanza1111.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police arrested a teen earlier this week for issuing bomb threats on X. Police said that the boy’s motive was to get back at his friend with whom he argued a lot.
With inputs from agencies
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IndiGo, Vistara among 24 flights to receive fresh bomb threats
