Hoax social media bomb threat at IGI leads to security drills

New Delhi: A social media chat about “bombing and eliminating” Delhi’s IGI Airport led to a brief panic and triggered a counter-terrorist security drill at the country’s largest civil aviation facility on Wednesday, official sources said.

The threat was categorised as “non specific” or hoax around 6:30 am after over an hour of conducting anti-sabotage checks at the facility even as normal passenger traffic continued, they said.

Airport security officials, sources told PTI, were informed about a social media post, in reply to an another message, that the Indira Gandhi International Airport should be bombed.

The chat posts, whose creators are being traced by the police, also talked about “eliminating” the airport, the sources said.

A bomb threat assessment committee (BTAC), comprising security, intelligence and airport operators, was triggered into action soon after the chats were flashed at the IGI control room around 5:15 am.

The threat was declared a “hoax” and “not serious” after about an hour of anti-sabotage checks at the three IGI terminals by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Delhi Police and airport authorities, they said.

The IGI airport in the national capital is designated as “hypersensitive” from the security point of view.

Scores of passengers transit through its terminals everyday for domestic and international departures and arrivals.