Air carrier Dispatcher reported a passenger notified the airline in flight they had a lithium battery in a checked bag. Dispatcher stated they were not updated about the situation.

Narrative

Passenger on flight messaged the airline while enroute saying they had checked a Lithium-ion battery in their bag. It became a security concern as of the manner in which the passenger informed us. I was not made aware of this until the Chief Pilot begun contacting the flight and was not successful in messaging. I received a confused message from the pilot asking who the Chief Pilot was. This was during a heavy IROP (Irregular Operations) on my desk and tried to investigate further; but the CA said 'disregard' when asking about the name. The chief had noticed the message while assisting me with an IROP and noticed the strange message. I was not informed of the security incident until the Chief Pilot came over to ask for assistance in messaging the flight crew to explain the security concern operations had with the passenger and asked me to get more details this way; instead of contacting me via the Maintenance Dispatcher or another party as the event was unfolding. Because of this; I was left clueless and was not prepared to help make important operational decisions; prepare for diversion or contact the crew about the possibility. I was not made the point of contact with the CA; the Chief Pilot had used my satcom to relay all info and left me on the side as I watched; left wondering what was going on because I had no information.