13 Mumbai flights receive bomb threats in two days; all hoax, Mumbai police begin probe

Vistara Airlines received threats for six of its flights, including UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai) and UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore). Akasa Air also faced threats on several flights, including QP 1102 (Ahmedabad to Mumbai), QP 1385 (Mumbai to Bagdogra), QP 1519 (Kochi to Mumbai), and QP 1526 (Lucknow to Mumbai).

IndiGo Airlines reported security alerts on six flights, including 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai) and 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul). Each aircraft was taken to an isolation bay upon landing where passengers safely disembarked as per standard operating procedures, the airline’s spokesperson said.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) of Mumbai airport on Saturday received an email from anonymous senders informing security agencies about the possible bomb blasts in six flights. There was also a post on X (formerly twitter) warning the same.

In one threat, an unidentified person left a tissue paper with a “Bomb in a plane” message scribbled on it onboard an Udaipur-Mumbai flight on Saturday. The threat was later found to be a hoax.

Mumbai’s Sahar police on Saturday registered an FIR against an unknown accused and have begun investigation.

According to the police sources, the CISF officials informed the airport police station that they have received multiple threats of bombs being planted in planes via email and also posts on X, in regards to six flights.

After the alert was sounded, Indigo Airlines’s Jeddah to Mumbai and Vistara’s Singapore to Mumbai flights were moved to Terminal 2.

Similarly, Vistara UK 624 Udaipur to Mumbai and Indigo’s 6E 58 Jeddah to Mumbai were moved to Sahar airport.

Apart from this, SpiceJet SG 116 Darbhanga to Mumbai flight was taken to the isolation bay after it landed. Similarly, Alliance Airline’s 91662 Sindhudurg to Mumbai flight was moved to Terminal 2.

All these flights and their passengers were thoroughly checked, but nothing suspicious was found on them. After due procedure, the threats were termed a hoax, and complaints were filed with the police.

‘BOMB in flight, will blast at 13:48, Save it’

Acting on one complaint filed by Vistara Airlines’s representative Swati Makan, the Sahar police in Mumbai on Saturday filed an FIR under sections 125, 351(4), 353(1)(B) of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and section 29 of The Aircrafts Act against an unknown accused after the person left a tissue paper onboard a UK 624 Udaipur to Mumbai flight with the message “There is a BOMB in the flight, will blast at 13:48, Save it” scribbled on it.

The flight had made a departure out of Maharana Pratap Airport (UDR) Udaipur at 11:56 local time.

After learning about the threat, the flight declared an emergency and landed at Sahar airport. After thorough checking of the aircraft, no explosives or suspicious items were found, the police said.

The police are checking if any passenger had left behind the tissue paper with a bomb threat message or some other individual placed it before the flight took off from the airport in Udaipur.

Last week, dozens of domestic and international flights received bomb hoaxes and threats via social media posts and emails, and various law enforcement agencies are probing it. Mumbai police alone have filed nearly 10 FIRs and are investigating the matters, police sources said.

Last week, the Sahar Police caught a 17-year-old schoolboy from Chhattisgarh for allegedly posting a threat message on X using an account created in the name of a person who the boy wanted to implicate due to a past dispute, another police officer said.

(Inputs from Siddant Konduskar)