Two people held over hoax bomb threats to Indian airlines

Singapore's air force sent two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane bound for the city-state

An Air India Express flight from Delhi to Chicago was diverted after the airline received bomb threats. Reuters

Two people have been detained over hoax bomb threats to more than 10 flights over the past two days that forced Indian airlines to divert and take emergency action.

Indian police held a 17-year-old boy from eastern Chhattisgarh state and a 34-year-old man, and have seized their mobile phones and laptops for investigation.

On Wednesday, the latest mid-air bomb threat, made from an X account, forced an Akasa Air flight carrying 184 passengers and crew members from Delhi to Bengaluru to return to the Indian capital.

Police received information linking the tweets to a 17-year-old in Rajnandgaon, Mohit Garg, superintendent of the city's police told The National. “Our teams along with the cyber cell team started collecting the electronic evidence and we handed that over to the Mumbai Police.”

“The boy had called the person whose Twitter handle was used [for threats]. We called him for questioning. He has been sent to judicial custody,” he said.

Indian Civil Aviation Ministry did not respond to The National's request for a comment.

Meanwhile, Akasa Air said on X that its emergency response teams were monitoring the situation with its flight to Bengaluru “and have advised the pilot to divert the flight to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi with abundant precaution”.

Hours earlier an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to New Delhi was forced to divert to Ahmedabad after receiving a threat. The airlines said that all passengers had safely disembarked.

On Tuesday, an Air India Boeing 777 flight from New Delhi to Chicago was diverted to Canada’s Iqaluit Airport. As many as nine other flights, including two international services, IndiGo Airlines' Dammam-Lucknow flight and Air India Express's flight from Madurai to Singapore, also received similar threats.

India’s federal Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is investigating the threats, which were all made from an unverified X account.

Singapore’s air force mobilised two fighter jets late on Tuesday and escorted the Air India Express AXB684 away from populated areas after the airline received a bomb threat in an email, Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said.

The plane landed safely at Changi Airport at 10.04pm, where Singapore’s ground-based air defence systems and explosive disposal team were activated. “Once on the ground, the plane was handed to the airport police,” the minister said. No threatening items were found, Singapore's police said.

IndiGo said it was aware of “a situation involving flight 6E 98 from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to Lucknow” and was taking necessary precautions.

“The safety and security of our passengers and crew is our highest priority and we are working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines,” IndiGo said.

The domestic flights of Air India Express on the Ayodhya-Bengaluru route, a SpiceJet flight from Darbhanga to Mumbai, an Akasa Air flight from Bagdogra to Bengaluru, and an Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight also received bomb threats and were grounded for security checks.

The SpiceJet said the aircraft landed safely at Mumbai airport and was directed to an isolation bay as a precautionary measure but was cleared for further operations after thorough security checks.

Akasa Air said all passengers were evacuated and local authorities undertook the safety and security checks after which the aircraft was operational again.

Three international flights to the US and the Middle East from India were diverted or grounded on Monday after Mumbai International Airport received bomb threats. An Air India flight carrying 239 passengers from Mumbai to New York was diverted to the capital, New Delhi and two IndiGo flights faced similar threats.