NEW DELHI: A 13-year-old boy has been taken into custody for allegedly sending a hoax email claiming a bomb was on a Toronto-bound Air Canada flight from Delhi, according to police reports on Tuesday. The boy admitted he did it “just for fun” to test if he could be tracked down, authorities revealed.
The incident came to light when a bomb threat email for flight AC043, scheduled from Delhi to Toronto, was received at 11.25 pm on June 4, as reported by Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani.This prompted an immediate high alert at the Delhi airport, and a full emergency protocol was activated to ensure passenger safety. A thorough search of the flight confirmed the threat was a hoax.
Following a complaint from Air Canada, an FIR was registered. The police investigation uncovered that the email account used to send the threat had been created and deleted within a few hours on the same day. Tracing the email led the police to Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where they found the sender was a 13-year-old boy.
During questioning, the boy confessed he got the idea after watching news about a similar hoax at Mumbai Airport. He wanted to test the police’s ability to trace such threats. Using his mobile phone and his mother’s Wi-Fi, he created and sent the email.
The DCP stated that the boy “was very excited when he saw the news about the hoax bomb threat at the Delhi airport the next day but did not share any information with his parents out of fear.”
The Juvenile Justice Board has taken custody of the boy, and police have seized two mobile phones used in the incident, said DCP Rangnani.
(With agency inputs)
The incident came to light when a bomb threat email for flight AC043, scheduled from Delhi to Toronto, was received at 11.25 pm on June 4, as reported by Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani.This prompted an immediate high alert at the Delhi airport, and a full emergency protocol was activated to ensure passenger safety. A thorough search of the flight confirmed the threat was a hoax.
Following a complaint from Air Canada, an FIR was registered. The police investigation uncovered that the email account used to send the threat had been created and deleted within a few hours on the same day. Tracing the email led the police to Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where they found the sender was a 13-year-old boy.
During questioning, the boy confessed he got the idea after watching news about a similar hoax at Mumbai Airport. He wanted to test the police’s ability to trace such threats. Using his mobile phone and his mother’s Wi-Fi, he created and sent the email.
The DCP stated that the boy “was very excited when he saw the news about the hoax bomb threat at the Delhi airport the next day but did not share any information with his parents out of fear.”
The Juvenile Justice Board has taken custody of the boy, and police have seized two mobile phones used in the incident, said DCP Rangnani.
(With agency inputs)