A 13-year-old boy has been detained for allegedly sending a hoax bomb threat email to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, targeting a Dubai-bound flight.

The incident occurred on June 17, when the airport received an email claiming a bomb was on board a flight scheduled to depart for Dubai on June 18.

The airport was immediately placed on high alert, with emergency protocols implemented to ensure passenger safety. However, the email was later determined to be a hoax.

Police investigations traced the email’s origin to Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, where they apprehended the teenage suspect.

The boy, a ninth-grade student, confessed to sending the email “for fun,” stating that he was inspired by a similar hoax threat made by another teenager that he had seen on social media.

He used a mobile phone provided for schoolwork to send the email and subsequently deleted the account.

The boy admitted to fearing his parents’ reaction and therefore did not disclose the incident to them. Police seized the phone used to send the email and subsequently released the boy into his parents’ custody.