More flights receive hoax bomb threat, government mulls strict action; some social media handles blocked

New Delhi/Mumbai: The pattern of domestic airlines receiving bomb threats continued for a fourth day with multiple flights being targeted Thursday, as authorities suspended or blocked about 10 social media handles for posting threats, according to official sources.

Among the flights that received threats on Thursday four were of Air India Express, two of Vistara and one Indigo. Air India said "a number of" their flights also received hoax bomb threat, but they did not specify the number.

"A number of Air India flights received a security threat on social media today. These have been duly reported to the regulatory bodies and all laid down procedures were strictly followed as per guidance of the regulatory bodies. All flights have made a safe landing. Air India is committed to and accords top priority to the safety and security of its passengers and crew," an Air India official said.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the ministry is looking at amending regulations to ensure strict action. Asked whether there is a conspiracy behind the bomb threats, he said, "whatever we know now are that of individuals and minors...and pranksters." One of the Air India flights that received a threat was its Mumbai-London flight. The Royal Air Force scrambled a typhoon fighter jet to escort the flight and it landed safely at London's Heathrow airport.

"We can confirm that RAF Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were launched this afternoon, to investigate a civilian aircraft," a Royal Air Force spokesperson said.

Following an uneventful interception the aircraft was released to continue to its original destination under the direction of civilian air traffic control, the spokesperson said. Further, the spokesperson said the incident is now being handled under the control of civilian authorities.

Meanwhile, official sources said about 10 social media handles that issued hoax bomb threats to multiple airliners this week have been suspended or blocked by cyber security agencies till now.

The sources told PTI that the handles were "analysed" by a joint team of cyber, aviation security and intelligence agencies following which orders were issued to suspend them as they continued to issue "mindless" threats.

Around 10 social media handles, majority of them on X, have been suspended or blocked since Monday, when these hoax bomb and terrorist attack threats started being sent to virtually all the Indian airliners for both their domestic and international route operations, the sources said.

The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.

Beginning Monday, as many as 31 flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats, including international flights, and some of them were diverted by these social media posted threat messages. Most of the threats have turned out to be hoaxes.

The sources quoted above said that cyber security agencies, apart from getting police FIRs registered in each such case, have enhanced 'cyber patrolling' on the social media and the dark web to check for possible linkages or trends where threats are being posted, leading to grounding or diversion of the aircraft.

The online surface is being scratched to find the primary email registration and geographical locations of these threat-issuing handles, some of which are possibly being prompted from overseas locations, the sources said.

These details are being shared with jurisdictional police departments, they said. These fake threats have led to inconveniencing hundreds of passengers and airline crew apart from security agencies. They have taken a heavy toll on airline logistics and operational costs, the officials said.

On Thursday a civil aviation ministry official said that the ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list.

Minister Naidu said the ministry is looking at amending civil aviation regulations to ensure strict action in such cases. "We are taking things seriously... we will take action." minor boy of 17 years of age from Chhattisgarh has been detained by the Mumbai Police in connection with the threats posted on X targeting three flights originating from Mumbai on October 14.

Officials said that the ministry is also examining provisions followed in foreign countries to deal with such hoax bomb threats.

Further, the official said that if necessary, legislative amendments will be explored for having a strong deterrent to prevent people from making hoax bomb threats to airlines.

Responding to a query during his weekly MEA briefing here, Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "Last few days, we have been seeing bomb threats. Bomb threats are a very serious issue. One of our Air India flight was grounded too. Several other aircraft also received similar threats." "Our agencies, the Ministry of Home Affairs are looking into the matter, and some arrest have been made, and some FIRs have also been filed. We hope there will be strong action against such people," he said.

Currently, there are strict norms against unruly passenger behaviour onboard flights but there are no specific provisions under the aviation regulations to deal with instances where a bomb threat has come from outside sources such as social media.

At present, the actions against hoax bomb threat incidents are taken by the police under criminal laws.