Bomb Threat Calls

Airlines in India have reported 809 hoax bomb threats in the last five years, with 719 in 2024 alone, as per data tabled in Parliament. "Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has information of a total of 809 hoax bomb threats received by airlines since 2020," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday. According to the data shared by the minister, four hoax bomb threat messages were reported by the airlines in 2020 and two in 2021. In 2022, airlines in India reported 13 hoax bomb threat messages, which rose to 71 in 2023, as per the data. In 2024, 719 hoax bomb threat messages have been reported by the airlines, according to the data. Aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats, the minister said. Moreover, a detailed contingency plan -- Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP) -- is in place to handle such threats. As a part of BTCP, every airport has

Panic and fear gripped parents across Delhi on Monday morning after 40 schools reportedly received bomb threats via email, prompting immediate evacuations and emergency responses. As the alarming news spread, parents rushed to the schools, their faces etched with anxiety, to ensure the safety of their children. Vipin Bhatra, a parent, shared his distress, and said "I rushed to the school as soon as I received the message about the bomb threat. If situations like this persist, how can we send our children to school with peace of mind?" Another parent, Anuradha echoed similar fears saying that she took her child home but she is still tense. Education is important but incidents like these are terrifying to all parents. Schools should be safe, not a place of constant threats, she said. Scenes of chaos were witnessed at several schools as parents anxious parents led their children away from the school premises. Meanwhile, teachers and staff managed the crisis by gathering students to

Delhi schools bomb threat highlights: Catch all the latest news developments here

Most schools that received the threat suspended classes and sent students back home

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi attacked the Central government and said that the BJP-ruled central government has failed in its only task of providing security

Delhi Police, Bomb Disposal Squads, and fire department officials promptly responded, reaching DPS RK Puram and GD Goenka Paschim Vihar

In response to an email threat, Bomb Disposal Squads (BDS) and local police swiftly arrived at the Mughal-era monument, conducting a thorough search operation to ensure the safety of the premises

After blast in Dekhi's Prashant Vihar, a private school in Rohini receives hoax bomb threat. Delhi Police have launched an investigation into the origin of the threat email to trace the perpetrator

Bomb threats surge in 2024: The increasing frequency of hoax threats has sparked concerns about the burden they impose on airport security systems and the overall aviation industry

Airlines received 994 hoax bomb threats this year till November 13 and robust protocols are in place to handle such threats, the government has said. To deal with the menace of hoax calls in a comprehensive manner, the civil aviation ministry plans to amend the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, and Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023. A total of 1,143 hoax bomb threat messages/calls were received from August 2022 till November 13, 2024, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Mohol informed Rajya Sabha on November 25. During the period from August 2022 to December 2022, there were 27 threats and the number rose to 122 last year. From January to November 13, 2024, the total threats received stood at 994, as per the data shared by the minister in a written reply to the Upper House. "The recent threats were hoax and no actual threat was detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India. As per assessment of BTAC, operations of some of the ..

After landing at the airport in Chhattisgarh, the aeroplane was thoroughly checked by security personnel, but nothing suspicious was found

The call was made to the CISF control room, alleging that a person was carrying explosives aboard a flight from Mumbai to Azerbaijan

According to CAAN officials, a search is underway in the Indian Airlines flight that was scheduled to take off for Delhi from Kathmandu

The flight landed at New Delhi Airport on October 27 and all the passengers were safely disembarked from the flight

A man was arrested for allegedly issuing a fake bomb threat to an Abu Dhabi-bound Air Arabia flight from Karipur international airport in this district, police said on Wednesday. The accused was identified as Mohammed Ijas (26) from neighbouring Palakkad district. According to Karipur police, the airport director, on Tuesday evening, received an email from Ijas claiming that a bomb was planted on the Air Arabia flight flying from Kozhikode to Abu Dhabi. Based on the complaint from airport authorities, the police launched an immediate investigation to identify the source of the threat and finally zeroed in on Ijas with the support of cyber police. "We immediately took him into custody from the airport. Actually, he was about to fly in the same flight to Dubai. He confessed to the crime and said his only intention was to cancel the flight," a police officer said. Ijas has some financial issues and he does not want to go to Dubai, he said. "He had to book the flight tickets under th

Pseudonymous or anonymous nature of the social media handle, analysis of the geopolitical situation and presence of VIPs onboard are some of the new criteria that agencies will keep in mind while considering the seriousness of a bomb threat made to Indian airlines. The new set of guidelines for civil aviation security and intelligence agencies have been issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS) in view of the "evolving security challenges", especially the "emerging trend" of issuing hoax bomb threats through various social media platforms. In the past two weeks, more than 510 domestic and international flights have received bomb threats that later turned out to be hoaxes. The threats were issued mostly through anonymous handles on social media platform X. This has caused "major" operational and financial distress for the airlines. As per the current practice, a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) is convened at a designated airport to analyse a bomb or security threat issued

The revised guidelines from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security outline several new indicators for assessing bomb threats

A message claiming a bomb had been placed on Air India's flight from Delhi to Mumbai via Indore was posted on a social media platform which later turned out to be a hoax, police said on Wednesday. The Indore police in Madhya Pradesh have registered a case in this connection against an unidentified person, they said. The "threatening message" that a pipe bomb was placed in Air India's flight AI 636 was posted on an X social media account at 5.08 pm on Tuesday, an Aerodrome police station officer said quoting a complaint by a local official of the airline. The flight, arriving from Delhi, had already left for Mumbai from Indore at 4.38 pm, he said. "The message about a pipe bomb being placed in the Air India flight was proved to be fake in our investigation," Deputy Commissioner of Police Vinod Kumar Meena told PTI. A case was registered against the unidentified person who posted the threatening message on social media under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 351 (4) (criminal intimida

Police in Maharashtra's Nagpur have identified a 35-year-old man from Gondia in the state as the person behind a spate of hoax bomb threats that triggered panic, caused flight delays and led to increased security at airports and other establishments, an official said. The Nagpur city police's special branch has identified the man as Jagdish Uikey, an author of a book on terrorism, who was arrested in 2021 in a case, he said. "Uikey is currently on the run after these emails were traced back to him," the senior police official said. The investigation, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shweta Khedkar uncovered detailed information linking Uikey to the emails. Uikey sent emails to various government bodies, including the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Railway Minister, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy, airline offices, the Director General of Police (DGP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF), the official said. On Monday, the Nagpur police stepped up

More than 60 flights of Indian carriers received bomb threats on Monday, sources said. In 15 days, over 410 domestic and international flights operated by the Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats. Most of the threats were issued through social media. The sources in the know said around 21 flights each of Air India and IndiGo, and about 20 flights of Vistara received the threats on Monday. An Air India spokesperson said a number of its flights were subject to security threats received on social media on Monday. "Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities," the spokesperson said in a statement. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of a spate of hoax bomb threats to airlines, the IT Ministry has asked social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and promptly remove or disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines .