The Indian security agencies have a major task on hand with the number of hoax calls to airlines only going up by the day.
These calls, which turned out to be a hoax, may have come as a sigh of relief, but the sustained pattern with which they are being made has raised eye balls and hurt the aviation industry badly.
The multiple agencies that are working on these cases are yet to make any headway as yet. I can confirm that so far there is no proper lead on the matter. At first, it appeared that these calls were being made from Europe, but a further probe into the matter did not lead us anywhere and it hit a dead end an official aware of the developments tells Organiser.
These threats are made on social media and the Ministry of Information and Technology has said that social media intermediaries should comply with the IT Act 2000, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. As per the rules these platforms are needed to remove unlawful content to maintain public order and security.
A sustained pattern
Another official said that at first it appeared as though these were just prank calls. However now it appears like a sustained pattern aimed at hurting the Indian airline industry. The perpetrators have also ensured that there is a lot of panic due to these calls. If one takes a look at the number of calls, it is extremely alarming.
There have been 60 such threats made since Monday and in the last 15 days it has been 410. On Monday alone threats were 21 flights each of Air India and Indigo, and around 2 flights of Vistara that received the threats.
“Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities,” a spokesperson for Air India said.
The Intelligence agencies who are also part of the investigation say that this is a larger design. It amounts to psychological warfare aimed at creating widespread panic across the country. The agencies are also not ruling out a foreign hand in all this.
The very fact that the probe has been hitting a dead end suggests that it is a well orchestrated plot. The agencies have learnt that VPNs are being used to issue the threats. They are well masked and this is stalling the agencies from getting to the root of the threat. All this makes it clear that there is a larger picture in all of this and it is not just a run of the mill prankster who is indulging in this, the investigations so far have found.
The threats are not just restricted to India. On Monday a similar threat was issued to Nepal as well with regard to the Air India flight AI 216 that was set to return to New Delhi. This prompted the authorities at the Tribhuvan International Airport to activate emergency protocol. While nothing suspicious was found, it still resulted in a four hour delay before the flight was finally cleared for take off.
In this context, one must also note that the threats are not restricted to just the airlines. In recent weeks, schools, colleges, malls, hospitals and other institutions to have received such threats.
An attempt to damage India’s aviation industry
These incidents have turned out to be nothing but a nightmare for the airline industry. Flights are getting delayed and passengers are panicking.
Take a look at the toll it is taking on the industry. The flight crew, the security agencies and the passengers have all come under duress.
A Vistara flight from Frankfurt with 147 passengers and crew had to make an emergency landing in Mumbai and go through security checks in an isolation bay, following the bomb scare. An Air India flight from Mumbai to New York had to be diverted to New Delhi. The passengers had to be evacuated and the aircraft searched for the possibility of any bomb in it. To make matters worse the flights had to dump 100 tonnes of jet fuel to ensure a safe landing. This alone cost the airline Rs 10 million, which is a huge waste of money for an industry that is already stressed. Moreover the total cost of the diversion, grounding the passengers and crew, grounding the aircraft and replacing the crew alone cost the airline Rs 30 million.
In such a situation, the evacuation process needs to be a quick one. This risks the chance of injuries to the fliers. Their baggage needs to be offloaded and the passengers wait endlessly until the flight is cleared. In the bargain, many have ended up missing important assignments. All this hits the sustainability of the airline and if such incidents continue, then it would cause a severe stress on the purse strings of these airlines.
What is worse is that in most cases, it is well known that these threats are just hoaxes. But protocol demands that checks have to be undertaken and the aircraft can fly only once it has full clearance. In the midst of all this, there are the likes of Sikhs for Justice chief, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who have joined the bandwagon to issue threats to Indian passengers against flying.
These threats have not just caused a scare, but also financial strain on the industry. It is also having an adverse affect on the tourism industry. Adding further to the woes is that these threats are being made unabated during the festival season.
The road ahead
While cracking the case would be the number one priority for the agencies, the government on the other hand is holding discussions to ensure that such incidents do not occur.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with the CEOs and representatives of airlines on October 19. Strict rules have been introduced and those behind these threats would be put on a no fly list.
Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu said that the authorities had no choice but to take every threat seriously, as lives are in question here.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has deployed a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee team at the major airports. Further a meeting of the representatives of the social media platforms has been called to seek their cooperation in the case. Security has also been enhanced at all airports owing to the festival rush.
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