Old alert sparks panic on social media

While the social media was abuzz on Tuesday night about an intelligence alert that three Islamic State (IS) operatives had sneaked into the city through the sea, creating panic, the Mumbai police on Wednesday claimed that it was an old alert and the “file had already been closed”.

“It is an old intelligence input. The input had just stated that three persons will be entering Mumbai. We have already verified the input and have closed the said file,” said a top Mumbai police officer.

The officer added that there is no high alert in Mumbai because of this particular input. “We do receive intelligence inputs from various agencies. Those inputs are verified and worked upon. Mumbai has always been on the hit list of terrorist organisations and hence the security is anyway of high intensity in the city.”

Around 11 pm on Tuesday, the social media was flooded with information that the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) had informed the Mumbai police and other agencies that three IS suspects are trying to get inside Mumbai through the sea and that Mumbai has been put on high alert.

On Wednesday, the ICG claimed that there was no such input. “There is no such input that they (IS suspects) would be entering Mumbai through the sea route and that ICG has been on high alert etc. There is no such alert,” a senior ICG official told dna.