PANAJI
Goa Police on Saturday admitted they have not yet made a breakthrough in the investigation into recent fake bomb threats sent via email, blaming non-cooperation from a US-based VPN (virtual private network) service provider.
Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta told reporters that the origin of the threatening emails has been traced to servers in France and Hungary.
However, he said that efforts to seek assistance from the VPN provider, based in the United States, have so far been unsuccessful.
“Since a VPN is being used, the email IDs are masked. Miscreants use these services because the VPN offers increased anonymity. When we contacted the service provider in the US, they did not cooperate. So, we are now pursuing appropriate channels to track down the culprits,” Gupta said.
He acknowledged that there has been no breakthrough in the case so far, but pointed out a general trend of hoax bomb threats.
His reply came in response to media questions regarding a fresh threat emailed to an Additional Collector in North Goa on Friday, warning the staff to vacate the Collectorate premises before 3:30 pm.
The threat was later confirmed to be a hoax. A similar email had earlier been sent to the Bardez Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
Goa Police headquarters also received hoax threats on March 29, besides one at the Canacona bus stand.
