The country continues to receive bomb threats on domestic and international passenger flights. Bomb threats were received on 27 flights on Friday. According to media reports, around 7 flights of IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet, while 6 flights of Air India received threats.
Six of the seven IndiGo flights that received bomb threats were 6E 2099 (Udaipur to Delhi), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 108 (Hyderabad to Chandigarh) and 6E 133 (Pune to Jodhpur) included.
Flight 6E 2099 from Udaipur to Delhi was threatened 10 minutes before take-off, after which the passengers on board were disembarked. Inside the flight and passengers' bags were checked. The flight was diverted after 3.5 hours after the bomb alert turned out to be false.
More than 280 Indian flights have received bomb threats in the last 12 days. Most of the threats are made through social media. The central government has asked social media platforms Meta and X to share data on fake bomb threat messages.
On October 23, the IT Ministry held a virtual meeting with social media platforms X, Meta and airline companies regarding these threats. The government asked the social media companies, 'What have you done to stop the spread of these dangerous rumours. These circumstances show that you encourage crime.
On October 21, Naidu had said that the names of those making bomb threats on flights could be included in the 'no fly list'. The government is planning to crack down on illegal laws against aviation security regulations and the Civil Aviation Security Act, 1982. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is in constant touch with the Ministry of Home Affairs on this issue.
4 Central Government action on threats
- Double the number of Air Marshals: On October 16, the central government decided to double the number of air marshals on flights. On the same day, the Home Ministry sought a report from the Aviation Ministry on the fake threats. CISF, NIA and IB were also asked to submit a report.
- Meeting with CEO of Airlines: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with CEOs of all airlines on October 19. It discussed dealing with false threats. Apart from this, the inconvenience caused to the passengers and the damage caused to the airlines were also discussed.
- DGC Removed Chief: On October 19, the Center removed DGCA chief Vikram Dev Dutt as secretary in the coal ministry. This change is seen as associated with dangerous matters.
- 2 arrested from Mumbai and Kochi: Mumbai Police has arrested a person. Apart from this, a minor was detained from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh. Both had threatened the bomb in the Indigo flight. Meanwhile, a passenger was detained at Kerala's Kochi airport on Monday for allegedly making a bomb threat.
The flight is landed at the nearest airport as soon as the bomb alert is received As soon as information is received that there is a bomb on the plane, the flight is landed at a nearby airport instead of its designated airport. This not only consumes more fuel, but also makes arrangements to re-check the aircraft, put passengers in hotels and take them to their destinations. It costs around Rs 3 crore per flight.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
