Threat email to ‘hijack’ Hyderabad-Dubai flight turns out to be hoax, probe launched

An AHyderabad-Dubai flight was cancelled after Rajiv Gandhi International (RGIA) Airport here received a threat email warning that the flight would be hijacked. The threat was subsequently declared a hoax, police said on Monday.

The airport terminal manager received the email on Sunday evening which mentioned that a passenger on the Hyderabad-Dubai flight is an ISI informer and that he would hijack the flight. It also said that he had received help from some other people at the airport.

A senior police official at Cyberabad Police Commissionerate said it was found after security checks that the email was a hoax and that a case has been registered and further investigations are on. The police official said that efforts are on to trace the sender of the mail, and action will be initiated.

The Dubai-bound flight was cancelled and the passengers were accommodated in another flight, the official said.

As per the norms of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee was convened to assess the threat message and after due consideration of all aspects, it was assessed as ‘specific’ and the due procedure was followed by airport officials.

Three passengers were offloaded and handed over to the police by the airport officials. Further investigations are on.