World · India Bureau
Gujarat police dismantle email network behind multi-state bomb threats
Gujarat authorities have dismantled a coordinated email operation linked to bomb hoaxes spanning multiple states, resulting in two arrests. The investigation uncovered over 500,000 compromised Gmail accounts that had been exploited since 2022.
LSN India ·
Police in Gujarat have broken up an email network allegedly responsible for orchestrating bomb threats across state lines, marking a significant development in addressing cyber-enabled extortion and public safety threats. The operation resulted in the arrest of two individuals and exposed a sophisticated scheme involving more than 513,000 Gmail credentials.
The compromised email accounts and associated passwords had been in circulation and active use since 2022, according to authorities conducting the investigation. The scale of the operation suggests an organized effort to leverage stolen credentials for coordinating threats across multiple jurisdictions, creating challenges for law enforcement agencies across India.
Gujarat police have indicated they will be pursuing formal inquiries with Google to trace the origins of the account takeovers and gather additional intelligence. The investigation is likely to involve coordination with cyber crime units in other states, given the inter-state nature of the threats originating from the network.
The discovery highlights ongoing concerns about the vulnerability of email accounts to compromise and the potential misuse of such breaches for criminal activities. Authorities have urged users to strengthen their account security measures and report suspicious email activity to law enforcement.