'Toilet Paper To Twitter To Bomb In Baggage': Air India Log Details Hoax Bomb Alerts

New Delhi: The government is on high alert after back-to-back bomb threats on various flights in the past three days. Air carriers whose flights have received threats include Air India, Akasa Air, Indigo airlines among others. The Ministry of Civil Aviation convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday as flights continued to receive threats. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought reports on series of bomb hoax calls to airlines. In the last 48 hours, at least 15 bomb threats have been received by various airlines on domestic and international routes, all found to be hoaxes. Let's take a look at some of the instances of how Air India flights received hoax threats in the past few months.

Bombay-New York flight AI 119, BOM-JFK, October 14, 2024

On October 14, 2024, a twitter message was received by the Integrated Operations Control Centre (IOCC) Delhi which mentioned “Fazluddin Nirban @ fazluddin27077 @airindia 6kgs of RDX and our 6 terrorists are travelling in your flight, this flight will be hijacked in next 20 minutes and will be blown-up in sky good by India, Pakistan Zindabad Allah Hu Akbar.

It was a specific call following which BTAC assembled and declared the threat as specific and followed measures for a specific bomb area.

Cochin-Bombay-Patna flight COK-BOM-PAT AI 682/673, August 11, 2024

On August 11, 2024, a customer had raised a question as whether he has ‘BOMB’ in his baggage” with CISF during PESC. It was a non-specific threat following which BTAC was formed and proper SOP followed. An FIR was raised against the customer by CISF.

Cochin-Lucknow flight on June 24, 2024

A Cochin-Lucknow flight AI 149 received a bomb threat call by CE Team. It was a specific bomb threat call following which the BTAC was formed and proper SOP were followed. An FIR was filed against the customer.

Bombay-Thiruvananthapuram flight AI-657 on August 22, 2024

On August 22, 2024, a Bombay-Thiruvananthapuram flight AI-657 cabin crew received a note in the Lavatory of the flight mentioning ‘Bomb InFlight’ while aircraft was midair. The flight was landed in an isolated bay. 

Once again, it was a specific bomb threat following which BTAC assembled and declared the threat as SPECIFIC and followed measures for a specific mom threat.

Delhi-Chennai (MAA) flight AI 540, May 3, 2024

On May 3, 2024, onboard Delhi-Chennai flight, two passengers namely Ajith Prasad and MK Shaheen were traveling on AI 540 Del-MAA on May 3. During check in, the staff asked security questions and they said, they have a bomb.

It was a non-specific threat. Both the passengers were taken to CISF and terminal manager DIAL office for these issues. Later, both the passengers apologised in writing and were allowed to travel on same flight.

Amritsar-Delhi-Vadodara flight ATQ-DEL-BDQ AI 462/819, May 15, 2024

On May 15, the Amritsar-Delhi-Vadodara flight ATQ-DEL-BDQ AI 462/819 on departure (AI-819) while boarding was in progress, one cabin crew while using the rear lavatory D, found a tissue paper having a word BOMB written on it.

It was a specific bomb threat following which all the concerned agencies were informed and BTAC (Bomb Threat Assessment Committee) was formed. BTAC declared bomb threat as Specific. Written complaint of this incident along with relevant documents and tissue paper (case property) were handed over to Delhi Police IGIA T3 for further necessary action and case registered under DD number 11 of May 16 and W/SI Pratima was appointed as investigation officer of the case.