A juvenile, aged 13, has been detained for purportedly dispatching an electronic correspondence to the Delhi airport falsely asserting the placement of an explosive device aboard an Air Canada flight bound for Toronto, law enforcement revealed on Tuesday. Authorities mentioned that the adolescent forwarded the threat “purely for amusement” to ascertain its traceability, following which he was taken into custody and presented before the Juvenile Justice Board.
“On the 4th of June, at 11:25 pm, the IGI Airport police station received a PCR call concerning an email hinting at a bomb threat against flight number AC043, slated from Delhi to Toronto,” articulated Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani. She further added that in light of the provided intelligence, the Delhi airport was placed under heightened vigilance, prompting a comprehensive emergency response on the premises.
“Stringent procedures and protocols in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure were meticulously adhered to in order to safeguard the well-being and protection of the passengers. Subsequent to an exhaustive examination of the flight, it was established that the alleged threat email was indeed spurious,” affirmed the DCP. A formal complaint lodged by Air Canada prompted the registration of an FIR in the case, Rangnani disclosed.
“Upon investigation, it was determined that the aforementioned email address was established mere hours preceding the fraudulent threat, and subsequently terminated upon transmission,” she elaborated. The probe steered the police team to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, where it transpired that the sender of the email was a 13-year-old adolescent, as disclosed by the DCP.
In the course of interrogation, the juvenile confessed that the inspiration for dispatching the fictitious bomb threat via email struck him upon encountering news of a similar occurrence at the Mumbai Airport. He harbored a curiosity to gauge the investigative prowess of law enforcement in the event of such correspondence, elucidated Rangnani. The adolescent disclosed that he crafted the email address on his handheld device and leveraged the Wi-Fi connection from his mother’s device to dispatch the email.
“Furthermore, he admitted to experiencing a surge of exhilaration upon encountering news of the feigned bomb threat at the Delhi airport the subsequent day, though refrained from divulging any information to his parents due to apprehension,” she appended. The juvenile has been apprehended, and two mobile devices utilized for transmitting the email have been confiscated from his residence, the officer concluded.
