On November 4, the Mumbai Police control room received a call with the caller claiming that some terrorists will be entering the country through Haji Ali. The call was made around 2 pm from an unknown phone number.
As soon as this call was received, the Mumbai Police swung into action and searched from Hajiali Dargah to the adjoining Mahalaxi temple complex but no suspicious group or person was seen.
The police traced the number to Ulhasnagar and reached there to apprehend the culprit. The police then founf out that he was 36-year-old mentally unstable man.
The police brought him for interrogation at Tardeo station. However, no FIR was registered and he was allowed to go back home.
A police officer said, "The caller just called and said that terrorists are going to come in Hajiali 17, after which a search was done there but we did not find anything suspicious."
From August 15 till date, Mumbai police has received nine such hoax calls.
Threat cases
Sep 23: 50-year-old businessman and political activist complains of video calls and messages from an unknown person insisting on meeting his party’s leader and claiming to be planning to carry out blasts in India. Police arrest a man named Ranjit Kumar Sahani.
Sep 19: Officers of the LT Marg police station arrest Dinesh Sutar (24), from Sangola in Solapur, for allegedly making a hoax call about a bomb planted in the Zaveri Bazaar area. Police said he was upset over his break-up.
Sep 17: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) apprehends Rahul Ravidas (21), a Jharkhand native, for allegedly making a hoax call to the police control room in June that terrorists were present at Dadar and Parel railway stations.
Aug 26: Traffic police helpline receives WhatsApp message from international number warning of a ‘Somalia-type attack’.
Aug 24: Sahar police arrest two persons for allegedly making threatening calls to the Lalit hotel to extort money. Vikram Singh and Ishu Singh were arrested from Vapi in Gujarat.
Aug 20: Police receive over a dozen messages from an unknown person threatening to carry out a 26/11-style terror strike in Mumbai. Police say messages appear to have been sent from Pakistan.
