Indian man sent hijack threats to avoid trip with girlfriend

Three Indian airports were put on high alert after Mumbai police received an email about a possible hijack attempt

Police in Hyderabad, India have arrested a man who sent hijack threats to airports to avoid a trip with his girlfriend.

On April 16, three major Indian airports were put on high alert after Mumbai police received an email about a possible hijack attempt. The three airports were the Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai international airports.



“An e-mail was received from an unidentified woman from Hyderabad that claimed that a group of 23 people were going to hijack aircraft from the Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai airports. Special airport security committee meetings were held at airports and all concerned were alerted for strengthening preventive measures outlined by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security,” a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said.

However, the woman behind the email turned out to be one M Vamshi Krishna, who sent fake threats to avoid taking his girlfriend on a vacation.

“He promised his girlfriend living in Chennai that he would take her on a jolly trip to Mumbai by flight but had no money to book the ticket,” said Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy.

He tried to convince her to cancel the trip, but she didn't let him. “Unable to explain to his girlfriend that he had no money for the trip, Vamshi decided to create a situation so that flights are cancelled,” said Reddy.



He reportedly created a fake airline ticket, from Chennai to Mumbai, in his girlfriend's name and mailed it to her. A day before she was scheduled to depart, he went to an internet cafe and created a fake email address which he used to send hijack threats to Mumbai police.

The email reportedly ended with the line, “Don’t try to find me because you won’t be able to."

The IP address of the email was tracked and traced back to the internet cafe. Krishna was arrested after he confessed.

The story originally appeared on The Hindu