The authorities have decided to start manual checking at the airport, which has already been on high alert since the 26/11 terror attack.
The wade through Mumbai airport is set to get lengthier after specific intelligence on a threat from militants to hijack a plane of the national carrier Air India, Union home ministry officials said on Friday.
The authorities have decided to start manual checking at the airport, which has already been on high alert since the 26/11 terror attack. Airlines have assured passengers that they have taken all the necessary security steps.
The central industrial security force (CISF) has been put on high alert in the run-up to the Republic Day on January 26. “We have increased manual checking of baggage to 65% from the normal 10%,” said a senior CISF official.
Since the airport is yet to get a full-body scanner, passengers are being randomly searched by the CISF, apart from the usual metal detector scans.
“We have also increased patrolling in the city-side area and have deployed more men in the Quick Reaction Team (QRT),” he said. The QRT was formed by the CISF after the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Hotel in Colaba. CISF men in civilian clothes are profiling passengers and a 12-member dog squad is also patrolling the airport on a 24-hour rotation basis.
Even the national airline, Air India, which has its own security apparatus, said it has beefed up security at the concerned airports to counter any possible threat that may emanate from the intelligence inputs provided to the airline in the past few days.
“We would like to assure passengers booked on flights operated by the airline that they need not have any apprehension with regard to security, as adequate measures have been taken in consultation with the concerned central- and state-level security agencies,” said the spokesperson for AI.
The measures taken by the airlines include secondary ladder-point checks of the cabin luggage of the passengers.
“We have taken requisite measures which we would not like to discuss publicly,” said the spokesperson for Jet Airways.
(With agency inputs)
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