Terrorism for the price of a phone call. For a public official, this is a severe lose-lose kind of situation.<p>Ground flights, people hate you. Let the planes fly and a real explosive materializes, lose your job/jailed for negligence.
I was at a major airport going home, and it was absolute chaos. Turned out they had received a bomb threat, and so security was super stringent.<p>Well, I've never been so scared before.<p>The massive security queue meant the entry hall was packed with people, and anyone could walk into there straight from the parking lot with 5-6 huge, heavy suitcases on a trolley without raising any suspicion.
Huh, considering the thorough checking that CRPF guy did for my backpack to finally take out a plumber's tape and throwaway. Is government/ airlines security not confident about their security procedures.<p>edit: CRPF -> CISF<p>Thanks to @db1234 for pointing it out.
Meanwhile, a terrorist on US soil has openly threatened [1] to blow up Air India flights again [1] with specific dates. That doesn't qualify under free speech protections, does it?<p>He's a US and Canadian dual citizen, the US government has been trying to protect him by giving him intelligence about threats against him, in Canada the CBC has been interviewing him and he said he's in regular touch with Trudeau.<p>Very strange just like the 1984 bombing of Air India that took off from Canada by the same Khalistan terrorists, killing 350 people of Indian origin including about 80 children. The investigation in Canada was completely botched and let the terrorists go free.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/khalistani-terrorist-gurpatwant-singh-pannun-issues-threat-against-air-india-flights-here-s-what-passengers-need-to-know/ar-AA1sEPDg" rel="nofollow">https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/khalistani-terrorist-gu...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hk_L3rqYCw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hk_L3rqYCw</a>
I flew to Delhi on the 17th of October from Paris.<p>Naturally, the airline forgot my luggage. They said don't worry, we'll send it on the next flight.
Still haven't received it(I'm in Bangalore now) due to flight cancellations.
At least I'm getting a lot of new clothes at the airlines expense.<p>Also, if you are planning a trip to India, make sure you have room in your luggage for clothing. You get some good quality stuff here for a quarter(or less) of the price you pay in Europe.
I don't understand why authorities even respond to bomb threats at all. If your security procedures are sufficient to keep people from bombing planes, bomb threats are irrelevant. If someone intends to bomb a plane, they don't announce it, making bomb threats doubly irrelevant. An institution getting a bomb threat is about as consequential as someone threatening to kill you in a Youtube comment.
TFA says that the motive is unclear, but that's not particularly true, is it? I mean, there are several, very predictable results from this, among which surely must be the objective(s). This leaves a pretty narrow trail to follow for whatever intelligence services must be looking at it now. Not knowing the lay of the land over there, I can't even guess, but someone here must be able to intuit what's going on.
The airlines have to follow a protocol to report threats to the ground, even if they’re likely fake. That’s why there are repeated incidents of fighter jets being scrambled to accompany the affected plane until they’re given clearance to land. It is disruptive, expensive, and clearly terroristic. The governments involved (primarily Canada, but also the US and India) need to restore rule of law and crack down on this.<p>I think I recall reading that these hoax threats are being done by supporters of a fringe Sikh separatist movement that aims to break up India, so they can form a Sikh religious ethnostate they call Khalistan. As I recall this group assassinated the prime minister of India at one point. But after that they also blew up an Air India flight with hundreds of Canadians and others on board (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182</a>). When India cracked down on the terrorists, many fled to Canada, and so there are many supporters of that movement there (if you’re in BC you know).<p>Unfortunately Canada has done little to crack down on this movement even though they have a record of terrorism and pose a threat to a key trade partner and important ally in the Asian Pacific region. I’m also not sure governments can fully stop anonymous online threats or coordination. Look at other disruptions like BLM groups blocking highways, or Palestine groups blocking airports, or whatever. These types of events are difficult to stop ahead of time.