New Delhi: A 13-year-old boy has been detained for sending a hoax bomb threat email to Delhi’s IGI Airport on June 17. The email claimed that there was a bomb on a Delhi-Dubai flight, which was later confirmed to be a hoax. The boy admitted that he was inspired by a similar incident involving another child that he had seen on social media and sent the email for fun.
DIAL (Security & Vigilance) reported the incident to the police, leading to the registration of a case. Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani stated that the airport was put on high alert, and a full emergency was declared following the threat. However, subsequent investigations revealed that the threat email was indeed a hoax.
A specialized team, led by SHO (IGI) Vijender Rana, was formed to investigate the case. During the investigation, it was found that the sender’s email ID was deleted immediately after sending the email. Through technical surveillance, the origin of the email was traced to Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, and the suspect was identified as a 13-year-old Class IX student. The boy used a phone provided by his parents for studying to send the email and then deleted the address, thinking he could remain anonymous.
The boy admitted that he did it for excitement but did not inform his parents out of fear. The police seized the mobile phone used to send the hoax email and handed the boy over to his parents.
This incident follows another similar case in June where a different 13-year-old boy sent a hoax email threatening a flight from Delhi to Toronto on June 4 just for fun’ to test authorities’ ability to trace him.
