Bhubaneswar: The saga of bomb hoax calls to airlines and airports have peaked in the month of October, when in 14 days, 400 hoax calls were made to airlines and airports across the country. With the security agencies having tightened of the security at the airports, and Centre mulling over amendment to Safety of Civil Aviation Act 1982, November hasn’t reported any fake bomb call threat so far.
In Rajya Sabha Tuesday, the Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu stated that the nation has recorded 994 hoax bomb call threats to different airports and airlines between January and November this year. As per the data shared, such hoax call threats were mere 122 in 2023. And in the last five months of 2022, it was mere 27. The Union Ministry data shows a total of 1143 hoax bomb calls have been made in the last 3 years.
AUGUST - DECEMBER 2022 | 2023 | 2024 (upto Nov) |
27 | 122 | 994 |
A glance at the data shows, the menace of hoax calls had shown a rise-in trend in 2023, only to peak in 2024. SInce 2023, a total of 1116 hoax calls were made across the states, incluidng 6 in odisha
Here is a glance at State-wise data (from top to bottom).
STATES / UTS | HOAX CALL CASES |
DELHI | 282 |
MAHARASHTRA | 244 |
KARNATAKA | 99 |
TAMIL NADU, INCLUDING CHENNAI | 58+9 (67) |
KERALA | 59 |
TELANGANA | 48 |
WEST BENGAL | 46 |
GUJARAT | 45 |
UTTAR PRADESH | 43 |
RAJASTHAN | 24 |
ANDHRA PRADESH | 21 |
PUNJAB | 20 |
GOA | 19 |
ASSAM | 15 |
BIHAR, INCLUDING PATNA | 12 |
JHARKHAND | 7 |
ODISHA, CHHATTISGARH | 6 EACH |
A study of the data tabled in Rajya Sabha today shows that Since 2023 to till date, the country saw 1116 hoax bomb calls, of which 994 were made in 2024 up to November. Of the 30 states/UTs, only Nagaland State has not registered any single hoax bomb call since Jan 2023. Excluding Assam, North Eastern states have record 11 such mischief calls of bomb threat.
HOAX CALLS PEAKED IN 3 MONTHS
A look at the data tabled in Rajya Sabha shows of the 994 calls made in 2024 so far, nearly 80 percent calls were made in the three months of August, September and October. And the bomb hoax call saga hit the airline majorly. Here is the list of hoax calls made to airlines.
AIRLINES | HOAX CALLS |
INDIGO | 197 |
AIR INDIA | 178 |
VISTARA | 151 |
AKASA AIR | 67 |
SPICE JET | 29 |
ALLIANCE AIR | 24 |
A total of 680 calls were made to Airlines operation to and from India. Data shows hoax threat calls were made Airline operators in gulf countries like Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad et al.
An analysis shows most number of the calls were made to the largest Airline carriers like Indigo, Air India and Vistara. This shows the intention of the hoax callers. The calls were not just a prank call, but a strategy to derail the burgeoning aviation sector of India and derail the aviation economy, including affecting the tourism revenue.
BOMB HOAX CALL: WHODUNIT?
As per the statement laid down on the table in Rajya Sabha, the threats were received random station and not from any specific location. The investigation is yet to identify the handlers behind such mass calls.
However, security experts view it a handiwork of organised crime gang and terrorist networks.
WHY HOAX CALLS DIPPED IN NOVEMEBER?
After October peak, the Union government has decided to take the following course of action.
- As per Section 3(1)(d) of The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, if any person communicates such information which he knows to be false so as to endanger the safety of an aircraft in flight, the person shall be punished with imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.
The Union govt’s consideration of amending the above Act entailing life imprisonment has seemingly put brakes on the geometric progression growth of hoax calls to airlines/airports in 2024.
