Air India Express flying from Dubai to Jaipur again received a false bomb threat
NEW DELHI: Early on Saturday morning, an email threatening bomb was sent to passengers on board Air India Express aircraft IX-196, which was traveling from Dubai to Jaipur with 189 people on board. Authorities have clarified, meanwhile, that upon the plane’s landing at Jaipur International airport, nothing unusual was discovered.
“Nothing suspicious was found after a thorough check by the security forces,” Jaipur Airport Police SHO Sandeep Basera told a news agency.
This comes after a similar fake call caused a Vistara aircraft scheduled to depart from Delhi for London on October 18 to be diverted late on Friday night to Frankfurt. 2.5 hours later, after a thorough inspection and clearance from security, it departed for its destination.
The email is also the most recent in a string of fictitious threat threats that Indian airlines have been receiving over the last week, affecting more than 40 flights.
The civil aviation minister recently reassured the public that sufficient steps were being taken in response to the increasing number of fake threat communications sent against Indian airlines. The minister ruled out any broader conspiracy behind these occurrences, characterizing them as “petty” pranks by adolescents and pranksters.
“This is being addressed with action. Although we are unable to comment on any conspiracy theories, we do know that certain children and practical jokers are making these calls. All of them are little, singular occurrences. We are unable to comment on any conspiracy of any type. We will try our best to see what we can do. We are in communication with the government as well as the airlines and security services. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said on Thursday that consultations were ongoing.
Additionally, it’s said that the Union Aviation Ministry is developing new regulations to deal with hoax callers and penalize them harshly, such as adding them to a no-fly list, in an effort to prevent them.
