A chilling message scribbled on the wall of a men’s washroom at Terminal 2 warning of a terror attack this week has jolted security forces into further tightening checks at Mumbai's airports
Mumbai airport, T2, Terminal 2, terror threat, toilet wall, panic, Mumbai news, Mumbai, alleged terror threat message, terror alert
After major airports of the country were placed on high alert when calls threatening hijacks were received in Delhi and Kolkata, airport authorities in the city also received a threat on Tuesday, albeit an unusual one.
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Also read: Mumbai airport on high alert after Air India receives 2 threats in 24 hours
The words were found scribbled in the men’s washroom of the Terminal 2 of the city’s international airport
A housekeeping staff member noticed words scribbled in the men’s washroom located on the east side of Level 2 in the arrivals lounge of Terminal 2, at around 4.30 pm yesterday.
The threat reads: “CSI ATTECK (sic) BY ISIS DATE 10/01/15”. CSI was seen to allude to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The Sahar police station was immediately informed about the message.
mid-day report on December 1
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Madhukar Sankhe, Airport division, said, “The scribble is on a wall in a washroom. No assumptions can be made right now, and we are investigating the matter from every angle.” Security agencies stated that they have enforced rigorous checks for passengers at the airports.
Two more calls to AI
The threat calls in Delhi and Kolkata had been made to the offices of Air India (AI). The national carrier received two more threat calls one each on Monday and Tuesday at their Thane office. In the phone call on Monday evening, a man threatened to hijack one of their aircraft. An AI executive received the call on its customer care number.
The caller simply said, “Maine tumhare plane ko hijack karunga (I will hijack your plane),” and hung up. The airline officials, airport handling management, and the security handling agencies were immediately informed about the call. Authorities at the call centre have also lodged an FIR at the Shrinagar police station in Thane.
Despite making repeated attempts to get in touch with the senior police inspector of the station, Jagdish Kakade, he did not answer phone calls. Another call was received at the same call centre yesterday at 9.30 pm, this time threatening that a bomb would go off in an AI aircraft at 10 pm 30 minutes later.
U K Khanvilkar, ACP, Zone V, said, “The Thane call centre has been receiving such calls quite frequently. Since the public knows that threat calls have been made in Delhi and Kolkata, it seems there are copycats who are merely imitating the modus operandi.”
While the calls to Air India’s offices in Delhi and Kolkata mentioned that a Kabul-bound aircraft would either be hijacked or blown up, no such information on location or flight was given in both the messages received at the Thane call centre.