On Friday, October 25th, three hotels in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati district received bomb threats over email. Responding to the threats, police and sniffer dogs conducted comprehensive searches of the hotels, confirming that the threat was a hoax.
As per the reports, 3 private hotels in the Leela Mahal, Kapila Theertham, and Alipiri regions received threats via email on Thursday evening. The menacing email’s subject line read: “Pak ISI to activate Improvised EDs in listed hotels, Evacuated by 11 pm! TN CM involved.” The emails were sent to a few hotels on Thursday, October 24th, 2024, at about 5:30 pm.
The police were seeking to determine the source of the threats.
The email stated that international pressure had increased as a result of Jaffer Sadiq’s imprisonment, and that “such blats (sic) in schools are necessary to divert attention away from the M.K Stalin family’s involvement in the case.” Jaffer Sidiq, a former DMK functionary, was arrested in February of this year for drug trafficking in Tamil Nadu.
Circle Inspector Srinivasulu of Tirupati East Police Station commented on the issue and said that an FIR had been filed in the case. “We are investigating the case from various angles, and efforts are underway to trace the culprits behind the email,” Srinivasulu stated.
Sadiq is a Tamil film producer and a former office bearer of the DMK NRI wing who was expelled from the party in March this year. The NCB in Delhi busted the sprawling drug trafficking network on February 15th this year; however, the officials shared this information on Saturday (February 24th).
The operation was led by NCB officials in conjunction with the Delhi Police Special Cell. Three accused hailing from Tamil Nadu were arrested and the agencies seized 50 kilograms of pseudoephedrine, a key chemical used in the production of methamphetamine. It was revealed that the Tamil film producer Jaffer Sadiq is the mastermind of the racket who went absconding.
It is crucial to note that for the past several months, numerous bomb threats have been targeting flights, as well as schools and colleges. Just a day ago, 85 flights were threatened, including 20 from Air India, 20 from IndiGo, 20 from Vistara, and 25 from Akasa. Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell is actively monitoring activity on X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms in response to the increasing threats. In less than a week, over 170 flights have been impacted by these threats. Meanwhile, the government is considering legislative measures to address bomb threats directed at airlines, including adding perpetrators to a no-fly list.
