Mumbai airport security beefed up after 10-year-old Satara boy makes bomb hoax call

Security at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport was increased after a bomb threat, which was later found to be a hoax, was traced to a ten-year-old boy who is disabled and bedridden. The boy, who is addicted to TV shows like Crime Patrol and CID, made the call from his mother's phone. No case will be registered against him due to his age and lack of ill intent.

MUMBAI: Security at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) was beefed up on Thursday after a caller claimed that a bomb had been placed in one of the aeroplanes that was scheduled to take off in ten hours. The call, however, turned out to be a hoax and was later traced to a ten-year-old boy from Satara district.

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The police said the boy is disabled and bedridden and is addicted to TV shows like Crime Patrol and CID.

The Mumbai police control received the phone call on Thursday night and the caller claimed that there was a bomb kept in one of the planes that was to fly in the next ten hours and was parked at the CSMIA. “The caller further told the policemen on duty that he was sharing the information as he had come to know about it,” said the police officer.

The message was immediately shared by the control room with the Sahar police and the crime branch in whose jurisdiction the international airport falls.

“The Sahar police shared the information with the airport security authorities. After a brief meeting of officers, a search was carried out at the airport. As nothing suspicious was found during the search, the call was declared as a hoax,” said the police officer.

“The caller turned out to be a ten-year-old boy. He used his mother’s phone and called up 112 - Maharashtra Emergency Response System (MERS) and was transferred to the Mumbai Police control room.

A team from Satara police reached the boy’s house and recorded the statement of his father, a grocery store owner. He told us that in 2017, his elder son suffered from a rare disease and has swelling in his legs and hands due to which he is bedridden. However, he is glued to the television set and keeps on watching various reality and crime shows like CID and Crime Patrol,” said the police officer.

“Perhaps he got the idea to make a hoax call from one of the shows that he watched. He called the control number which he got from the crime shows. We have counselled the family and allowed them to go,” said the police officer.

DCP zone 8 Dikshit Kumar Gedam said that since the caller turned out to be a child with no ill intent, the police have not registered a case against him. “No coercive action will be taken against the kid. We did send the appropriate security alert to the airport security personnel and had prepared to give them every possible support from our side as well,” he said.