NEW DELHI: Hundreds of educational institutions in Delhi and several airports across India received bomb threats on Sunday morning. After inspections, authorities declared the alerts to be hoaxes.
The threatening email read: “Bombs have been placed around your buildings, you have 24 hours to react or face the bloodpool.”
Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, Jammu Airport, and Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Amritsar were among the airports mentioned. An Air India source said the airline received the email around 6 am, prompting alerts to airport authorities.
Nearly 400 schools and other educational institutions in Delhi were also targeted, as the email was copied to multiple addresses, an official said.
A Delhi airport source confirmed the threat. “The bomb threat was later declared to be a hoax at IGIA,” he said.
The email, sent by a group calling itself 'Terrorizers111', contained rambling, incoherent language: “To the administration of schools and airports, I am the leader of terroristic group also known as terrorizers 111… Bombs have been placed around your buildings, you have 24 hours to react or face the bloodpool.”
The group has issued similar hoax emails in the past.
An official at Jammu airport said: “Air India received an early morning mail about a bomb threat to multiple airports and educational institutions. The mail, purportedly from the terrorist organisation '111', gave a 24-hour timeframe for response.”
Authorities held a virtual meeting with security agencies at 10:20 am, concluding the threat was non-specific and harmless. Anti-sabotage drills were carried out at Jammu airport, including random baggage checks and intensified security measures.
“Additional sniffer dogs were deployed. Nothing suspicious was detected. It was later declared a hoax,” the official added.