India’s airlines and airports reportedly received nearly 1,000 fake bomb threats as of early November, disrupting flight schedules and wreaking havoc on services.
Murlidhar Mohol, the country’s deputy civil aviation minister, told parliament that 999 bogus threats had been received as of Nov. 14, with more than half of them coming in the last two weeks of October, the BBC reported.
That was nearly 10 times the number of threats made in 2023 and a sharp increase from years past.
Authorities recorded 120 bomb hoaxes at airports between 2014 and 2017 with about half directed at Delhi and Mumbai.
There was “no actual threat detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India,” Mohol said.
Officials have made 12 arrests in connection to the threats, the report said.
The country’s civil aviation ministry said it was making “every possible effort” to protect flight operations, adding that airports have a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee that monitors threats and decides the appropriate course of action, the report said.
Threats can lead to the deployment of bomb disposal squads, sniffer dogs, ambulances, police and doctors.
They also often require passengers to deboard the plane, along with baggage, who then have to go through security again.
Engineer and security teams must also search and clear the plane before it can take off.
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