Airlines in India received 709 hoax bomb threats in 2024, massive jump in last five years

The civil aviation security regulator, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats.

Updated on: Dec 10, 2024, 24:49:43 IST

By HT News Desk

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Airlines in India received 719 hoax bomb threat messages in 2024 alone, taking the total number of such threats to 809 in the last five years, the government data tabled in Parliament revealed.

Greater Noida, India- December 09, 2024: The validation test marked a major milestone, paving the way to get certified for the airport's approach and departure procedures. (HT Print)

“Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has information of a total of 809 hoax bomb threats received by airlines since 2020,” PTI quoted Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol as saying in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The rising menace this year is evident when looking at the numbers for the last five years. Airlines in India reported four such threats in 2020 and just two in 2021. In 2022, airlines in India reported 13 hoax bomb threat messages, which rose to 71 in 2023, as per the data.

Also read | Remove hoax bomb threats, report to authorities: Meity to social media companies

The minister said that the civil aviation security regulator, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats. A detailed contingency plan called the Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP) is in place to handle such threats.

Mohol also said that to deal with hoax bomb threats, BCAS has issued advisories to all civil aviation stakeholders to ensure streamlined security measures and prevent any unlawful interference with civil aviation.

Also read | Airline IndiGo the worst-hit due to hoax bomb threats

In October, Union civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu said that the ministry is looking at an amendment to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA) to enable law enforcement agencies to invoke this law against people who make hoax bomb threats about aircraft at airports.

Also read | Sent email ‘just for fun’: 13-year-old boy to Delhi police on hoax bomb scare

"From the Ministry, we have thought of some legislative action if it is required. We have concluded that there are two areas that we can explore - 1) Amendment in Aircraft Security Rules...one of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list... 2) Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act...,” Naidu had said.

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