FBI probing over 50 bomb threats aimed at US airlines
US officials say they have received over 50 threats aimed at US airlines since January 17 when a flight between Atlanta and Raleigh received a bomb threat.
At least 20 of these have come in the last week via Twitter, a FBI spokesman said.
Three separate Twitter accounts have been discovered as the source of at least eight of the threats.
One account was responsible for threats made to six different flights – an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago, a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Charlotte and four Delta flights.
"We are continuing to investigate these threats with our law enforcement and airline partners as we do with all stated threats," an FBI spokesman told CNN.
"Threats of this nature can and do result in costly responses from a multitude of law enforcement and airport entities and greatly inconvenience travelers and individuals responsible can be prosecuted federally."
A Delta flight had to be evacuated at New York JFK after receiving a ‘credible’ bomb threat on January 19 and fighter jets were scrambled to escort two planes to Atlanta’s airport on Saturday following threats made on Twitter.
The next day another Delta flight bound for Orlando was diverted to Dallas/Fort Worth.
It was reported that 17 bomb threats were posted online in a single day – on January 27.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said despite suggestions most are the work of copycat pranksters, every threat has to be taken seriously.
"We take these threats very seriously, and not only the FAA but our inter-agency team works through these issues and tries to get to the bottom of what’s happening and that’s what’s going on," Foxx said.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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