The Thane police has nabbed a prank caller from Madhya Pradesh. Mukesh Kumar Meena (20) who called national carrier Air India’s Thane call centre last week, threatening to hijack an AI flight on November 28. After arrest, the youth claimed he did it “just out of fun”.
DCP Vilas Chandanshive, informed media that the youth had been arrested from Harda district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday and an offence had been registered against him. Mr Meena was produced before a local court, which remanded him to police custody till December 2. A case has been registered under IPC Section 505 (1) (B) (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and 502 (2) (criminal intimidation).
According to preliminary investigation, the youth, a class 12 student, made the call “just out of fun”. The State ATS and the Intelligence Bureau too were roped in to look into the matter as Mumbai airport is already on high alert after the Paris attack.
Mr Meena called Air India’s call centre on November 20 at about 10.25 pm and threatened to hijack an AI flight on November 28. With the help of Truecaller, the police traced the call location to MP and a team of Shrinagar police personnel was sent to the state to trace the caller. Mr Meena was located at Rahatgaon village in Harda and taken into custody.
A senior police official said, “The arrest is a clear message to all those playing pranks on airlines or the airport. Each word of theirs is taken seriously and they will be arrested for it.”
“These calls have been a major concern not only for security agencies at the airport, but also airlines and the entire staff here,” the official further added.
This year, Mumbai airport has received as many as 15 threat calls out of which two prank callers were arrested by Mumbai police in the month of April.
