After Delhi, Ahmedabad schools get bomb threats from same Russian domain

Nearly a week following the unsettling bomb threats that targeted around 100 schools in Delhi, several schools in Gujarat's Ahmedabad received similar emails on Monday. These communications sparked panic among both staff and parents.

In a swift response to the situation, law enforcement authorities promptly deployed to the affected schools and initiated an ongoing investigation. Notably, the threatening emails were reportedly sent from the Russian domain "mail.ru," the same one that was used to send the bomb threats to the Delhi schools.

Among the targeted schools in Ahmedabad were DPS and Anand Niketan. So far, no indications of suspicious activities or explosive devices have been found on the premises of these schools.

Delhi school bomb threats

The recent wave of bomb threats, which caused widespread apprehension across various Delhi schools, reportedly originated from a server situated in Russia. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena disclosed last Wednesday that Delhi Police had successfully traced the originating email addresses responsible for sending threats to nearly 100 schools.

Sources told news agency ANI that all the schools received the threat emails from a single IP address. In fact, all the schools received the same email, the screenshots of which have been making rounds on social media.

A police officer, meanwhile, said that the email ID used to send the threat emails to the schools in Delhi-NCR was ‘sawariim@mail.ru.' 'Swarim' is an Arabic word that has been used extensively by the Islamic State (IS) in their propaganda videos.

The officer added that the email contained verses from the Quran.

Delhi Police to send a judicial request to Russia 

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police is set to approach the Union Home Ministry and, subsequently, the court to request a Letter Rogatory (LR) to Russia, seeking information about the email ID responsible for sending bomb threats to schools in Delhi-NCR. They have already sought assistance from Interpol through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). An LR is a legal request, and responses to such communications are typically prompt.

Last year, Delhi Police sent an LR to Russia after a bomb threat was received by the Indian School at Sadiq Nagar on April 12. Sources told the Times of India (ToI) that the LR was dispatched on May 12. Subsequently, Russia responded promptly, revealing that the IP address used by the sender was 188.172.220.76, located in Austria and that a virtual private network was utilised.

Recently, the police initiated a review of last year's school bomb hoaxes, seeking technical clues that could aid in the current investigation. The special probe team revisited two solved cases where Gmail IDs were used, and Google shared internet protocol details, aiding in the resolution.