Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reportedly advised the “whole of government” approach to tackle the menace of the ongoing bomb threats targeting the aviation sector, schools and vulnerable joints. According to sources, the PM expressed concern over unabated bomb threats and was informed, during the Cabinet meeting, that the security agencies are taking the hoax bomb threat messages and calls “seriously”.
Threat messages continued to create panic on Thursday as well, as 95 flights got the threats, which later turned to hoaxes. With this the total number of such threats has crossed 250 in the last 11 days.
Sources across airlines say the same handle has targeted flights with such threats. Under the newly changed protocol, such mass threats from the same handle are treated as ‘non-specific’ to minimise disruptions, as they do not require diversions.
Taking hoax bomb-threat messages seriously, the government has started identifying those behind the menace, and asked social media platforms like Meta and X to share data on such messages. The government has also asked top multinational technology conglomerates to cooperate with it to identify those behind such hoax calls, saying this involves public good.
Highly placed sources said the government has traced some people who were behind hoax bomb-threat calls targeting airlines, and that action is being taken accordingly. However, the government sources did not provide any further details on where these hoax calls and messages came from and who were behind those.
These incidents, involving a series of hoax calls, have raised serious concerns within the aviation sector. Despite the fact that these threats have been deemed false, they have caused massive disruptions, triggering emergency security procedures and impacting flight operations. Authorities continue to investigate the origins of these hoaxes, while industry officials are calling for stronger measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has blasted on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and also slammed Meta for their roles in facilitating the spread of these hoaxes.
Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government plans to take legislative actions to deal with instances of bomb threats to airlines, including placing perpetrators of such threats in the no-fly list.
The Delhi Police have registered eight cases related to these threats, which originated from anonymous posts on X. According to a senior police official, three specific accounts-@adamlanza111, @psychotichuman, and @schizobomer777-have been identified as key sources of these threatening messages.
Despite attempts by law enforcement to trace the user IDs linked to these accounts, the investigation has been hindered by the use of VPNs and the dark web. “The first case was registered on October 16 after a bomb threat targeting a Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight was received via X,” the police official said.
