'Evacuate Diplomats by 10 am': Police term bomb threat to Italian and Japanese consulates in Bengaluru as hoax

The incident happened on January 29.

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Bengaluru: The Consulate General of Italy and the Consulate General of Japan in Bengaluru received a bomb threat email last week, police officials confirmed on Thursday.

After a thorough check, both threat emails sent from the same ID were declared hoaxes.

According to officials, the Halasuru police registered an FIR on January 30 following a complaint by Giandomenico Milano, 45, the Consul General. The complaint was physically submitted to the police by Security Officer Cosimo Ciciriello.

It is alleged that on January 29, at 5.25 am, the official email IDs of the consulate — [e-mail], [e-mail] and [e-mail] — received an email from [e-mail].

"5 RDX to blast in Italy Consulate, bengaluru at 1 PM. Evacuate Diplomats by 10 AM!" the email said as per the FIR.

An inspection was conducted as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the threat was declared a hoax. The case was registered under Section 66F (cyber terrorism) of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Further investigation is ongoing.

A case was also registered by the Vidhana Soudha police on January 29 following a complaint by Hoshino Shingo, 32, a security officer at the Consulate General of Japan.

“On 29.01.2026, the Consulate General of Japan in Bengaluru, Prestige Nebula Building, Cubbon Road, Bengaluru, received a bomb threat email from an unknown email ID: [e-mail] at 5:32 am to [e-mail] and [e-mail]. Hence requested to take appropriate action in this matter, etc.

“After the receipt of the said complaint, GSC 18, NCR No. 16/2026 was registered. Since this case is of non-congnizance, permission was obtained from the 41 ACJM Court, and a case was registered,” the FIR noted.