Delhi Police Registers 8 FIRs Over Bomb Threats To More Than 90 Flights; Probe On

Eight FIRs Over Bomb Threats To More Than 90 Flights: Delhi Police has registered eight separate FIRs in connection with bomb threats to more than 90 domestic and international flights over the past eight days, officials on Tuesday said. The affected flights include services from Akasa, Air India, IndiGo and Vistara, operating from Delhi to various domestic and international destinations, they said, adding the investigation is underway.

According to a senior police officer, the threats messages were received through anonymous posts on X which were later suspended by the authorities. The officer said three accounts on social media platform 'X' - @adamlanza111, @psychotichuman and @schizobomer777 have been found involved in posting threat messages to fights.

"As of now, we have registered eight separate cases in response to threats to more than 90 domestic or international flights operating from Delhi," the officer said. The first case was registered on October 16 following a bomb threat received via X , targeting a Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight. The aircraft, carrying over 180 passengers, was forced to return to the national capital.

The police wrote to social media platform X the next day seeking details of the accounts that posted threatening messages but the force was not able to get the details of the user's ID or domain. "It was suspected that the handler used VPN (Virtual private network) or dark web browser to set up the accounts on X and then posted the messages from more than one account," the officer said.

Various teams of the Delhi Police's cyber cell are keeping an eye on the activities on X and other social media platforms regarding the ongoing threats to flights. "We do not take any threat lightly and follow all laid down security protocols by checking the aircraft before declaring it a hoax," another officer said.

In little over a week, more than 170 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats. Meanwhile, the government is planning legislative actions to deal with bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list.

Amendments are being proposed to The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982, whereby the perpetrators could be arrested and a probe can be initiated without a court order for offences when an aircraft is on the ground.

Also, changes are being planned to aircraft security rules to ensure stringent punishment for perpetrators of bomb threats to flights.