Mumbai: Bomb hoaxes typically elicit two predominant reactions: relief and amusement. Relief, because there is no real threat, and amusement, often stemming from the knowledge that the perpetrator is likely a disgruntled employee or irate customer.
What is seldom discussed is the substantial manpower wasted on a single hoax call. Understanding this requires insight into the procedures involved. Protocol dictates that any call received by a government or civilian organisation must be immediately reported to the police. Whether relayed to a local police station or the police control room, the information must reach the Commissioner of Police, who is obliged to assess the situation regardless of his location or activities. This triggers a response from senior officials: the Senior Inspector of the concerned station, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, the Additional Commissioner of Police, and the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), along with numerous subordinates. Their roles include coordination, cordoning off the area, crowd control, monitoring misinformation online, and handling press inquiries.
Simultaneously, the entity targeted by the hoax activates its emergency plan, involving personnel evacuation, isolation of the location, coordination with law enforcement, and communication with stakeholders. “In total,” says a senior officer with the Mumbai Police, “around 100 man-hours are wasted on a single hoax call. Taking any call lightly is not an option, as top leadership is monitoring the situation, and no one wants to take that risk. Heads would roll, and arrests would follow if there were an actual threat.”
On Wednesday, the Mumbai Police detained a minor from Chhattisgarh alleged to have sent a series of hoax messages to various airlines over two days. The 17-year-old reportedly used social media to post threats, resulting in the delay of 19 flights. In an attempt to frame a friend over a personal grudge, he even called the police control room. Tracking and apprehending hoax callers has become more manageable due to cellular data mapping, CCTV, and advanced cyber-forensic tools employed by police forces nationwide. However, these resources have done little to deter hoax callers.
One notable case involved a West Bengal resident arrested in 2022 for threatening to bomb a leading bank’s South Mumbai headquarters. The Azad Maidan police traced him to his hometown near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Malda, where he had gone into hiding after switching off his phone. His lengthy history of similar threats in his home state aided in his capture, facilitated by human intelligence. His notoriety was such that well-meaning individuals had saved his number on Truecaller as ‘Fake’.
