Hyderabad: Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) Hyderabad was placed on high alert following a series of anonymous e-mails warning of an RDX attack, on Friday, February 16.
The first warning email was received on Thursday morning, prompting immediate action from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), RGI airport police, Telangana police, and central agency teams.
After searches, the initial threat was deemed a hoax, however, later on Thursday evening and again on Friday, similar threatening emails were received, leading to repeated security drills which also concluded the threats as hoaxes.
The RGI airport police, under Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shamshabad, K Narayana Reddy, have initiated an investigation and are actively searching for the sender of these hoax emails.
This is not the first time the Hyderabad Airport has received hoax bomb threats.
In August 2023, an email claiming that a bomb was placed at Hyderabad Airport led to brief panic and triggered a security drill.
It’s noteworthy that Hyderabad Airport, the only operational airport in Telangana serving both domestic and international passengers, witnesses a huge footfall.
Passenger traffic at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) soared past the 12 million mark for the first half of financial year 2023-24 (H1FY24), clocking a 24% jump over H1FY23 and marking the highest ever half-yearly passenger traffic handled by the airport.
In the July-September 2023 quarter alone over 6 million domestic and international passengers flew in and out of the Hyderabad, up from 4.9 million in July-September 2022 quarter, as per data provided by GHIAL.
