AI misreads post on 1998 Pak hijack, leads to FIR

HYDERABAD: A seemingly harmless post on X recounting a 1998 plane hijacking in Pakistan with references to "Hyderabad airport", "Delhi" and "Bhuj" was picked up by an AI-powered social media listening tool in India and flagged by a senior vigilance specialist on Aug 14 as a "threat mail", triggering a security charade involving aviation officials and police.

An FIR lodged at Hyderabad airport police station on Aug 15 against Pakistani social media user @omeremran - his X bio describes him as an aviation geek and history buff - invokes sections 351(4) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) and 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of BNS, and 66D (cheating by personation) of Information Technology Act.

"May 25, 1998. A PIA Fokker F-27, Flight PK-544, lifted off from Gwadar with 33 passengers and 5 crew. Moments later, three armed men from the Baloch Students Organisation seized the aircraft and demanded to be flown to New Delhi," states @omeremran's thread on the hijacking 27 years ago, captioned "The Hijacking that Pakistan Outsmarted".

The thread ends by explaining how the three Baloch hijackers were arrested by commandos at Hyderabad airport in Sindh on May 25, 1998. It mentions that the trio was tried and executed 17 years later.

Unbeknownst to @omeremran and his 350-odd followers, the post left officials in Hyderabad in a tizzy after it appeared on the Airport Predictive Operations Centre's social media radar.

Rakesh Kumar Sharma, senior specialist of security and vigilance, reported "a threat mail was received..." Aviation security officials and cops purportedly didn't verify the post before filing the FIR, sources said.