The Hindu : Front Page : Sending `bomb alerts' can spell trouble

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Monday, Jul 24, 2006

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Sending `bomb alerts' can spell trouble

Sandhya Soman

Police warn mobile phone subscribers their numbers will be deactivated

A sniffer dog at Spencer Plaza on Friday.- PHOTO: V. GANESAN

CHENNAI: The city police have warned mobile phone subscribers that their numbers will be deactivated if they send or forward bomb threat alerts. Based on police instructions, the six mobile phone service providers have issued SMS alerts advising subscribers against sending or forwarding "bomb hoax rumours creating panic."

A high-level police official meeting is planned this week to review the situation.

On the rise

According to a senior police officer, the number of prank calls and SMSs, which were on the rise after the Mumbai blasts, touched a new high by Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, the police searched the premises of five private schools following a bomb hoax. The call was traced to a telephone booth at Saligramam. The perpetrators: a group of schoolchildren.

On Friday, it was a `bomb' at Spencer Plaza and sniffer dogs were pressed into service.

Sriya. N, a private company employee, received this SMS on Thursday: "Don't go to Spencers, T. Nagar and other crowded places in the next few days. There is a bomb threat".

"A friend of mine had sent it to me. Though I thought it a rumour, I forwarded it to friends," she said.

Prank calls

Greater Chennai Police Commissioner Letika Saran said the department received information about at least five to six calls, all hoax, made by schoolchildren last week. "Prank calls, most of them mischievous in nature, can be tracked. Sometimes, you get stuck when it comes to schoolchildren. But we are trying to track them."

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