Indian charged with kidnapping after driving away 2 children in car in US
New York: A 24-year-old Indian man has been charged with kidnapping, assault and theft after he drove off in an elderly woman's car from outside a medical centre in the US with her grandchildren inside the vehicle.
Dalvir Singh, a heroin addict, was taken into custody and charged with two counts of kidnapping, felonious assault for dragging Nita Coburn, 69 and grand theft, Middletown Division of Police said in a statement.
Coburn was injured when as she tried to stop Singh as the kids jumped out of the car. The police is also hailing Coburn's 8-year old grandson Chance as a hero for saving his 10-year old sister's life by pulling her out of the car as Singh took off in it.
The Middletown Police said that on the evening of April 25, it received a call that a car with children inside had been stolen at a medical center in Middletown, Ohio and that an elderly lady was injured.
Coburn had taken another woman to the hospital and her two grandchildren were with her in the back seat. When they got to the emergency room, she pulled up close to the door and was helping the other woman into the emergency room.
About 10 seconds after she got out of the car, Singh jumped into the driver's seat and took off with the children still in the back.
The little boy opened the door to escape and his sister Skylar started to jump out also but Singh grabbed the hoodie of the little girl not allowing her to leave. As she tried to get away, Chance grabbed hold of her and pulled her away from Singh and they both tumbled out of the vehicle as it was moving.
Police said Coburn did not realise that the children were able to escape because they flew out of the passenger side and by that time she was chasing the car on the driver's side.
She opened the driver's door to regain control of the vehicle she thought her grandchildren were in, but Singh slammed the door shut again and locked the door.
She hung onto the vehicle panicking because she thought the children were still inside. The vehicle dragged her until it accelerated at a high rate of speed and she was forced to let go.
Two police officers observed the stolen vehicle fleeing the scene and chased Singh, who was then taken into custody and charged.
Middletown Police Chief Rodney Muterspaw lauded the heroic attempt by Chance to save himself and his sister from the kidnapping attempt.
"This little guy is a hero. No question. He pulled his sister out of the car with no concern for his own safety. That is incredible at his age," he said.
The Middletown Division of Police said it will be recognising the little boy's quick action to not only get out of the vehicle but also making sure that his sister got out with him.
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
