Indian investigators have traced hoax threats against airlines in the country to the UK and Germany, the Indian Express reported on Thursday. Indian agencies have asked X (formerly Twitter) to share the IP addresses of the accounts generating the posts and asked the company to delete them, an unnamed source told the newspaper.
More than 20 flights in India, both domestic and international, faced bomb threats this week. Three threats occurred on Monday, ten on Tuesday, and at least six more on Wednesday, prompting increased security measures. At least 14 flights received threats on Thursday. The threats, made through social media, appear to have been fake, investigations have established.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said initial enquiries had not pointed to a conspiracy, and that most of the calls had been “made by minors and pranksters.” Naidu said New Delhi was considering introducing new laws against such hoaxes.
However, investigators have been trying to establish a “pattern” in the series of threats targeting various airlines, the Hindustan Times reported, citing unnamed sources. “There is a pattern behind the messages. A threat is given using social media or through a phone call, and then suddenly similar threats start to appear within a short span of time,” a security official told the outlet. He also claimed that the intention of the attackers was to “definitely disturb the aviation sector, create panic, and keep the agencies on their toes.”
Police in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, arrested a minor for allegedly posting online bomb threats in relation to three flights. The individual, aged 17, allegedly created a handle on X, naming it after a friend with whom he had a dispute, and posted the threats from that account, NDTV has reported. In June, several minors were detained in separate cases involving bomb threats targeting airports. In one such case, a Class 9 student had reportedly been “influenced” by news on social media platforms, where he had learned about children sending similar hoax emails.
Throughout the year, more than 40 airports in India received bomb threats, leading to extensive anti-sabotage checks that lasted for hours, but all of the threats were found to be hoaxes. The reason for the surge in bomb threats this week is not clear.
Notably, the threats surfaced against the backdrop of a major diplomatic row between India and Canada over Ottawa’s allegations that New Delhi’s agents were linked to the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Notably, Khalistan separatists were blamed for the bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed over 329 people in 1985. One of the Air India flights that received a “security threat” earlier this week had to make an emergency landing in Canada. It was originally heading for Chicago in the US.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, another prominent leader of Khalistan movement, which seeks an independent state for Sikhs to be carved out of India, has issued multiple threats to India, including threats to Air India airlines.