Love-lorn boy holds up Alitalia flight

...makes hoax calls on bomb; calls traced to his house

BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 2, 206

A Mumbai boy is in the news for trying to hold up an Alitalia flight with hoax calls.

The protagonist Sanil Shah is a Class XI student of Jamnabai Narsee in Mumbai. According to reports, he tried to stop the Milan-bound Alitalia from departing, by making hoax calls to the Aliatlia office in Mumbai, claiming that there was a bomb planted in the plane.

Sanil Shah joined the Mumbai school from US a couple of years back. A group of students from his school was leaving for Milan for a study tour for a mock UN session. According to reports, Sanil's girlfriend was part of the tour group, though he himself was not able to go. He wanted to hold up the flight which he was not able to take.

On Sunday night, he made three calls to the Alitalia office. Each time, the flight was held up and searched for the non-existent bomb. When he made the third call, it was traced by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to his home number.

The boy even told the airline office that the bomb was with a student who was part of a tour group. Following this, the students' bags were searched in vain.

Sanil told the police that he was told by someone that there was actually a bomb on the flight. This claim is still to be verified.

The Alitalia flight left quite late, without the student party on board. Though they were cleared for travel, the group called off the trip.

The police has not registered any case against the boy. Alitalia sources told Mumbai Mirror that the airline suffered over Rs 10 lakh due to the delay and panic.