Sept 18, 2001: Bharat Vedanata booked on a Hyderabad-bound Jet Airways flight was caught with a .22 revolver and 41 bullets in his baggage at ladder check-point. Bharat had walked through the metal detector, the security hold where his baggage was X-rayed. Oct 1: Delhi-bound Mumbai politician booked on Air Sahara flight caught with 26 bullets by airport security at check-in point. Oct 9: Hyderabad-bound passenger on Jet flight found with loaded pistol in security hold. Dec 14: Less than 24 hrs after terrorists tried to storm Parliament, airline security staff found 12 bullets and a .32 caliber gun in cabin baggage of a Hyderabad-bound Jet Airways passenger. April 11, 2002: A night before Union Minister for Civil Aviation Shahnawaz Hussain was due to visit Mumbai airport, eight bullets were seized from a Delhi-bound passenger on an IA flight. Other lapses: Temporary workers were found to have access to core areas of the airport such as hangars, tarmac, cargo terminals and even aircraft. Sept 28, 2001: An intruder, dressed in Army fatigues, sneaked into the operational area of the airport. He was spotted climbing a stationary Jet aircraft and was believed to have scaled the wall of the airport to enter the air field. Officials suspect it to be a ‘dry run’ prior to ‘‘a sabotage activity.’’ Feb 5, 2002: A flourishing fake entry pass racket was busted at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. These allowed unauthorised persons to enter the high security zone. March 11: An Air-India manager and two others were arrested for smuggling two women on board a Singapore Airlines flight on February 21 to Manchester via Mumbai. The women had boarded the flight in Singapore, but instead of alighting at Mumbai, they hid in the toilet and proceeded to UK. CISF took over security operations at the Mumbai airport in August.
