diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-index-management/src/index.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-index-management/src/index.rs
index d9ac677e112..8ca874f3cb3 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-index-management/src/index.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-index-management/src/index.rs
@@ -211,12 +211,14 @@ impl IndexService {
             .metastore()
             .list_indexes_metadatas(ListIndexesQuery::IndexIdPatterns(index_id_patterns.clone()))
             .await?;
-        // if indexes_metadata.is_empty() {
-        //     return Err(IndexServiceError::Internal(format!(
-        //         "can not find index using: {:?}",
-        //         index_id_patterns
-        //     )));
-        // }
+
+        if indexes_metadata.is_empty() {
+            return Err(IndexServiceError::Metastore(MetastoreError::NotFound(
+                EntityKind::Indexes {
+                    index_ids: index_id_patterns,
+                },
+            )));
+        }
         let index_ids = indexes_metadata
             .iter()
             .map(|index_metadata| index_metadata.index_id())
diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/index_api/rest_handler.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/index_api/rest_handler.rs
index 9f4ced84292..5b14e37ed83 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/index_api/rest_handler.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/index_api/rest_handler.rs
@@ -1128,6 +1128,14 @@ mod tests {
             .expect_list_splits()
             .returning(|_| Ok(vec![mock_split("split_1")]))
             .times(2);
+        metastore.expect_list_indexes_metadatas().returning(
+            move |_index_ids_query: ListIndexesQuery| {
+                Ok(vec![IndexMetadata::for_test(
+                    "quickwit-demo-index",
+                    "file:///path/to/index/quickwit-demo-index",
+                )])
+            },
+        );
         metastore
             .expect_mark_splits_for_deletion()
             .return_once(|_index_uid: IndexUid, _splits: &[&str]| Ok(()));