Bomb scare: Air India Express, Vistara flights receive threats
What's the story
An Air India Express flight on its way from Dubai to Jaipur received a bomb threat through email early Saturday morning.
The aircraft, which had 189 passengers on board, landed safely at Jaipur International Airport at 1:20am.
"An Air India Express flight IX-196 flying from Dubai to Jaipur...received a bomb threat via an email at 12:45am on Saturday," said Sandeep Basera, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the airport police.
Security sweep
Security forces find no suspicious items on threatened flight
Upon landing, security forces thoroughly inspected the aircraft and found nothing suspicious.
This incident marks the sixth consecutive day of bomb threats to domestic airlines.
In light of these threats, authorities have suspended/block approximately 10 social media handles believed to be behind issuing these hoax alerts.
Additional incidents
Vistara and Akasa Air flights also targeted with bomb threats
In another incident, a Vistara flight on its way from Delhi to London was diverted to Frankfurt after a bomb threat was received on Friday.
The airline confirmed that the flight landed safely in Frankfurt and was undergoing mandatory security checks.
An Akasa Air flight scheduled to fly from Bengaluru to Mumbai also received a security alert before its departure on Friday. Passengers were deplaned as local authorities followed safety procedures.
Preventive measures
Civil aviation ministry to implement strict norms against hoax threats
Almost 40 flights of Indian carriers have recently been targeted with bomb threats, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.
In the wake of these incidents, the civil aviation ministry is mulling strict norms. These include placing people behind such threats on a no-fly list.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said these threats appear to be from people and minors acting as pranksters.
Cybersecurity action
Cybersecurity agencies suspend social media handles issuing hoax threats
Cybersecurity agencies have cracked down on some 10 social media handles that were found to be spreading these hoax threats.
The handles were traced by their use of common phrases like "bombs," "blood will spread everywhere," and "this is not a joke."
Central agencies are also planning to rope in VPN service providers in an effort to trace the origins of the bomb hoax calls targeting Indian flights.