KOCHI: A bomb threat was received at the Kochi airport for the second day in a row. The threat was raised against two flights that took off from Kochi. Air India's Kochi-Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Akasa Air's Kochi-Mumbai flights received the threat message. However, by the time the message arrived, the planes had already taken off. Despite receiving such messages on social media continuously, the authorities have not been able to find out who is behind it.

Earlier in the day, there was a message that there was a bomb threat to the flights that took off from Kochi. The threat of such fake bombs is on the rise not only in Kochi but also in many cities of the country. Last week alone, more than 20 bomb threat messages were received at various airports across the country. The Centre is also investigating why such fake messages are constantly being circulated.

Last week, the central government had decided to introduce black cat commandos on flights in several sectors. The central government has taken an important decision to increase the security of flights and air travel in the country. From now on, there will be black cat commandos along with passengers during the travel of flights in select sectors for security reasons. National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will accompany the passengers. Their appointment will be as sky marshals.

The government's decision comes in the wake of an increase in cases such as fake bomb threats against several aircraft in the country. Sky marshals will provide security on selected domestic and international flights. The decision was taken as part of enhancing the civil aviation security protocol. They are referred to as black cats and sky marshals, but they won't be in their uniforms.

The security personnel will be travelling like regular passengers. There will be one or two of them on a plane. They will have hidden weapons with them. There will also be equipments to prevent the hijacking of the aircraft. The sky marshals will be trained in tactics to keep passengers safe. The passengers on the flight will not be aware of them. Only the pilot-in-command can identify them.

At present, there are 40 sky marshals under the NSG. The Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to increase the number to 110. The new security arrangement comes in the wake of a bomb threat to 15 flights from various airports in India in the three days from Monday. Several flights, including Air India's Mumbai-New York and IndiGo's Mumbai-Riyadh, have received fake threats.