Pune: Minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol on Wednesday told TOI that most of the hoax bomb threats to airlines came from abroad via calls or through social media. "We have learnt that in most cases threats were issued to airlines via calls or social media messages from foreign countries. Some of them originated in the country too.
The Mumbai police and departments concerned have arrested a few people involved in sending these hoax messages," Mohol said. Over 50 hoax bomb threats were issued to airlines on Tuesday. The minister said, "The civil aviation ministry and other departments concerned are constantly monitoring the situation and have advised the airlines to follow all safety protocols, besides ensuring maximum safety and convenience to passengers.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation has held meetings to examine the situation and to ensure that there was maximum safety in the wake of bomb threats and threat calls." Mohol stressed that while stringent checks must be conducted at airports, attention must be given to passengers' convenience. Hundreds of innocent flyers have been hassled in recent days because of hoax bomb threats.
A flyer on IndiGo 's Lucknow-Pune flight on October 17 said no announcements were made regarding the bomb threat. "We just kept sitting on the flight for around half-an-hour after it landed, wondering what happened. I had to go to a hospital because my father was unwell.
Once we got out of the aircraft, checking of passengers began. Wit.