Mumbai Traffic police receives text telling India to avoid ‘Somalia-type attack’

A WEEK after the Mumbai Traffic Police WhatsApp number received threats about another “26/11-like” attack in the city, the same WhatsApp number on Friday received a message from an unidentified person advising India to avoid a “Somalia-type attack”. The message sent from a Somalia-based number did not issue any threat. Terror group Al-Shabaab had recently attacked the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.

A Crime Branch officer said, “While the number is registered in Somalia, we are trying to find out the message was sent from where. It is possible that someone from another country sent the text.”

“Even in the earlier case, where the 26/11 terror threat was issued, while the number used to send the messages was from Pakistan, technical investigation has revealed that the IP address belonged to one UK-based VPN (virtual private number),” the officer added. “If it turns out that in this case too, the current IP address is traced to the UK, it will indicate there is a link between the two messages.”

The officer further said that the police have written to the UK-based VPN to get details about the person who used the particular IP address to send the message.