An anonymous and unverified account on social media platform X has gone on a bomb threat spree, threatening over 45 flights of Indian airlines since Friday night and sending airlines, airports, and the aviation security apparatus into a tizzy. The account—@adamlanza111—posted bomb threats to 12 flights on Friday night. On Saturday, the account has so far posted bomb threats for 34 flights of Indian carriers, and has even started posting threats to overseas airlines like American Airlines, JetBlue, and Air New Zealand.

The account appears to have been created only recently, which is usually the case with social media accounts used to issue fake threats. Although most bomb threats turn out to be fake, airlines as well as aviation authorities globally take them with utmost seriousness. The security checks, which often take a few hours, result in disruptions like delays and even rescheduling of the remainder of the flight in some cases, which hit the airlines financially.

The Indian carriers that received bomb threats from this account on Saturday include—Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and Star Air. All these carriers received threats for five flights each, with the exception of Star Air, which received threats for four flights. A few of these flights that were in operation when the threat was received, declared a general emergency.

All posts from this account include five flight numbers of the airline being threatened, with an identical message: “There are bombs placed onboard of 5 your planes…No one will make out alive. Hurry up and evacuate the plane.” Notably, while some of these flights were airborne when the threats were posted, a few had already been operated.

With these incidents, the number of confirmed instances of bomb threats to Indian carriers’ flights this week has risen to around 70. While security protocols would be underway for the flights that received the threats today, all the previous threats this week—posted from different anonymous social media accounts—have turned out to be fake. According to sources in the government, efforts are on to trace and nab the individuals or groups behind these anonymous accounts.

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However, the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) by those positing the threats has made it challenging for the agencies. Government agencies are learnt to be in contact with social media platforms and VPN service providers to trace these threats.

This spate of bomb threats started on Monday when three international flights of Indian carriers had received hoax bomb threats. Another ten flights had received threats on Tuesday, while on Wednesday, there were at least seven threats. All major scheduled Indian carriers have received these bomb threats. One minor from Chhattisgarh was apprehended earlier this week in connection with the bomb threats issued on Monday. However, social media threats have continued and only risen over subsequent days.

The relevant government ministries—including the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)—and agencies have gone into a huddle in view of these bomb threats. MoCA is understood to be working closely with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to formalise an earlier proposal of putting the perpetrators of hoax bomb threats on the no-fly list. The government is also considering changes in current rules and legislations to ensure stringent punishment for the culprits of fake bomb threats.

When an aircraft receives a bomb threat deemed as a specific threat, a detailed security protocol is followed which could include diverting the aircraft to a suitable nearby airport and taking it to an isolated bay, where passengers are quickly made to deplane. The aircraft as well as passengers’ bags and the plane’s cargo are subject to a thorough security screening. After the screening and security checks, if the threat is found to be a hoax, the aircraft is released for operations.

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