Adding to the series of hoax threats given over the phone, another such call was received on Tuesday at the helpline number 112 of the Mumbai police. The caller said that three bomb blasts will rock the city. The police have now confirmed that the security agencies have identified the caller and declared the bomb threat as a hoax call.
This is the seventh bomb threat call in three months. On the phone, the caller claimed that the explosion will take place at Infinity Mall Andheri, PVR Mall Juhu and Sahara Hotel Airport.
Soon after the call was received, security was beefed up, with the deployment of cops from the Sahar Airport, Juhu, Amboli and Bangur Nagar police stations. Adding another safety ring, CISF personnel and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad were sent to the spots as well.
“We have tracked the caller and confirmed that it was a hoax call. All the places which were named by the accused have been checked thoroughly. The citizens are requested not to panic as everything is under control,” said a senior police official.
The series of hoax threat calls began in August when the police received over a dozen messages from an unknown person threatening to carry out a 26/11-style terror strike in Mumbai. The police said messages appeared to have been sent from Pakistan.
Later on August 24, the Sahar police arrested two persons for allegedly making threatening calls to the Lalit hotel to extort money. On August 26, the traffic police helpline received a WhatsApp message from an international number warning of a ‘Somalia-type attack’.
On September 17, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad a 21- year-old Jharkhand native for allegedly making a hoax call to the police control room in June. On September 19, a jilted lover made a hoax threat of active bombs in Zaveri Bazar. In the most recent case, a 50- year-old businessman and political activist received several calls about pan-India blasts.
