Security drills at IGI airport after hoax bomb threat on social media

New Delhi: Early on Wednesday morning, after authorities were alerted to a social media chat threatening to "bomb and eliminate" the nation's largest civil aviation facility, a counter-terrorist security drill was started at Delhi's IGI Airport, according to official sources.

The threat was deemed to be "non-specific" or a hoax at around 6:30 am even as the facility continued to see the usual flow of passengers, they claimed.

Airport security officials, sources told PTI, were informed about a social media post, in reply to another message, that the Indira Gandhi International Airport should be bombed.

The chat posts, whose creators are being traced by police authorities, also talked about “eliminating” the airport, the sources said.

The bomb threat assessment committee (BTAC) procedure was triggered into action at the IGI at around 5:15 am.

The threat was declared a “hoax” and “not serious” after anti-sabotage checks of the three IGI terminals were carried out by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Delhi Police and other airport authorities, they said.

The IGI airport in the national capital is designated “hypersensitive” from the security point of view.

Scores of passengers transit through its terminals every day for domestic and international departures and arrivals

With PTI inputs