 "Police arrest teen for bomb threats to airlines, planned to frame friend")
Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested a minor in connection with a series of bomb threats directed at various airlines since Monday, resulting in the diversion of several flights, including one to a remote Canadian airport.
According to police, the threats were reportedly made by the boy to implicate a friend with whom he had a financial dispute.
The 17-year-old, a school dropout from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, and his father were called in for questioning by the Mumbai Police on Tuesday. While the boy has been placed in custody and is being sent to a remand home, his father remains under investigation, police sources indicated. The teenager is alleged to have created a social media account on X (formerly Twitter) using the name of the friend he argued with and issued bomb threats from that account.
Starting Monday, at least 19 threats have been reported, with four occurring on Monday alone. The Mumbai Police has filed three first information reports (FIRs), with the teenager currently in custody related to the first FIR concerning Monday’s threats.
Boy’s prank disrupts multiple flights
On Monday, the boy reportedly made false threats regarding four flights, three of which were international. As a result, two of these flights were delayed, including an Air India flight (AI 119) from Mumbai to New York, which was redirected to New Delhi, and one flight was cancelled.
On Tuesday, at least seven flights were affected, including an Air India flight (AI 127) from Delhi to Chicago, which was rerouted to Iqaluit in Canada. An IndiGo flight (6E 98) from Damman, Saudi Arabia, to Lucknow made an emergency landing in Jaipur, and bomb threats were also received by Air India Express, Akasa Air, and Alliance Air.
The threats on Tuesday originated from an X account that began posting in the afternoon.
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Police investigate threats, leads uncovered
Hoax calls continued on Wednesday, affecting a New Delhi-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight (QP 1335) that had to return to the capital, and an IndiGo flight (6E 651) from Mumbai to Delhi that was diverted to Ahmedabad. Five other flights, including two from SpiceJet, also received bomb threats.
In response to the threats, the Delhi Police has filed multiple FIRs, and the issue was discussed in a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport on Wednesday. Sources reported that aviation officials informed the MPs in the committee that they had identified some ‘critical leads’ and potential suspects. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu held a meeting with officials from his department and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Two flights diverted on Wednesday
An Akasa Air flight headed to Bengaluru was redirected back to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday following a ‘security alert’ The flight, QP 1335, was carrying 174 passengers, including three infants, along with seven crew members.
In a related incident, an IndiGo flight also encountered a bomb threat on Wednesday, marking the second occurrence for the airline in just two days. A flight from Mumbai to Delhi was diverted to Ahmedabad, where passengers safely exited the aircraft after it was isolated.
On Tuesday, three flights received bomb threats — two from IndiGo and one from Air India.