Maximum alert: Airport security tightened after hijack threat

VARANASI: Security at the airport in Varanasi has been tightened in the wake of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba’s (LeT) alleged plans to hijack a Nepal-bound aircraft, a senior Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official said on Monday. The CISF manning the Lal Bahadur Shastri airport has been put on maximum alert and a quick reaction team has been deployed to deal with any emergency, CISF commandant Rohitashva Kumar said.

Similar security measures have also been taken at New Delhi and Kolkata airports from where flights for the Himalayan country originate, in wake of the intelligence inputs about LeT’s plan to hijack Nepal-bound aircraft, he said. Multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place at the Varanasi airport, with the CISF personnel manning all sensitive points round-the-clock, Kumar said. “The passengers travelling by the Indian Airlines and Cosmic Airways flights to Nepal and those returning by these carriers are being put through extensive checking,” he added.

Travel documents, including passports, of the passengers and their luggage are being put through strict scrutiny at the airports, the CISF commandant said. Security officials are also carrying out extensive searches in the outer zone of the airports, including the parking place and the entry of the armed security guards of dignitaries have been banned inside the terminal, Kumar said.

Kumar claimed LeT has recruited three Pakistani nationals for the task and managed for them, citizenship and passports of Nepal through their networks, so as “to enable them to escape the dragnet of our security and intelligence agencies while travelling between the two countries.”