CISF steps up vigilance at IGI

On July 7,a passenger,identified as Manzara Ali Shamin,was caught by security personnel carrying six rounds of live ammunition in his hand baggage at the new domestic terminal 1D. Shamin was bound for Jaipur on a Kingfisher flight.

“The passenger claimed to have a valid licence for the same but did not possess any such document. He was handed over to the local police,” a senior CISF official said.

On July 8,a passenger,Ramesh Bhutani,bound for Hyderabad on an Indian Airlines flight,reported the loss of his mobile phone at 5.30 pm after his baggage was scanned by the X-Ray machine at terminal 1A.

Upon reviewing CCTV footage,it was discovered that a fellow passenger,identified as Saheb Khan,had picked up the phone and boarded a Chennai-bound flight. The security personnel at Delhi informed their Chennai counterparts and based on their description,the accused passenger was intercepted after landing at the Chennai airport. “The passenger told the CISF personnel in Chennai that he took the phone by mistake. He was let off and the phone was sent back to Delhi on a flight,” the CISF official said.

Baggage theft at airports questioned in Parliament
Baggage theft of passengers from the two largest airports of the country led to uproar during the ongoing Parliament session on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had to field queries regarding passenger inconvenience at the Delhi airport due to theft by baggage loaders or fellow passengers. The number of such thefts has been put at 32 in 2008,as against 94 cases in 2007. The Minister,however,said all scheduled airlines were directed to depute one or more security personnel for departure hall surveillance,two personnel for baggage make-up area and one or more persons to escort security cleared cargo till aircraft and one personnel for baggage break-up area.