Delhi airport bomb scare: 13-year-old Meerut boy apprehended

A 13-year-old boy has been apprehended for allegedly sending an email to the Delhi airport, falsely claiming that a bomb had been planted in a Toronto-bound Air Canada flight, police said on 11 June.

The boy sent the threat "just for fun" to check whether it could be traced back to him or not, they said.

After being apprehended, the boy was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.

"On 4 June, a PCR call was received at 11.25 p.m. regarding a bomb threat e-mail for flight number AC043, scheduled from Delhi to Toronto, at the IGI Airport police station," said deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani.

Based on the information received, the Delhi airport was put on high alert and a full emergency was declared on the premises, she said.

"Guidelines and protocols as per the SOP were properly followed to ensure the safety and security of the passengers. After a thorough search of the flight, the threat e-mail was found to be a hoax," said the DCP.

On a complaint received from Air Canada airline, an FIR was registered in the matter, Rangnani said.

"During the investigation, it was found that the said email id was created hours before the hoax threat was sent and it was deleted after sending the email," she said.

The investigation led the police team to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

"The sender of the email turned out to be a 13-year-old boy," the DCP said.

During questioning, the boy told police that he got the idea of sending the hoax bomb threat email after seeing the news about a similar incident at the Mumbai Airport. He wanted to see whether or not the police would be able to trace him if he sent such an email, Rangnani said.

She said the boy created the email id on his mobile phone and used the wi-fi connection of his mother's mobile phone to send the email.

"He also revealed that he 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," she added.

The boy has been apprehended and two mobile phones used for sending the email have been seized from his place, the officer said.