Security scare at Isro as woman tries to enter HQ

The security of sensitive installations in our country has once again been called into question after a 40-year-old woman illegally tried to enter the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) premises in the city with a fake ID, an act which has befuddled police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guarding the high-security campus.

Buela M Sam, a pharmacist and resident of Ahmedabad and a native of Panalur, Kerala, also illegally stayed at the guest house of the space agency’s satellite center (ISAC) on HAL Airport Road for two days by producing a fake ID, claiming she was a senior scientist with the space agency.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Buela, a pharmacist, had settled down in Ahmedabad after quitting her job. Her husband Alex Asge is an English teacher in Ahmedabad.

According to police, Buela had visited her native in Kerala on Sept 19 to attend the last rites of her father. Police say Buela left Kerala the same night and reached Bangalore, after which she managed to secure accommodation at the Isro’s guest house claiming she was a senior scientist. Preliminary investigation reveals that she obtained the fake ID from a photo studio in Kerala.

But Buela, who had stayed at the Isro guest house for two days, was nabbed by the CISF personnel when she tried to enter the Antariksh Bhavan on New BEL Road on Sept 21. Police said the security personnel grew suspicious about her movements and questioned her, thereby learning about her fake ID and her stay at the guest house.