Airport baggage screening will get more intense

With the government comtemplating handing over the registered baggage to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), screening of baggage at the Mumbai airport is set to change in a few months.

For one, Terminal 1B of the domestic airport will be put on an in-line baggage inspection system, implying that the responsibility of screening of check-in baggage, which vests with the respective airlines, will change hands. Confirming the move, senior CISF commandant, Sanjay Prakash, said, “The security scanning must go in-line, even if on an experimental or as a permanent feature.” The CISF is responsible for manning the security at all the airports in the country.

According to sources, the need for the baggage to go in-line was felt as the “current system of first scanning the baggage and then taking it to the respective airlines, to be registered as a check-in baggage, had a time lapse where disruptive elements may sneak in materials that could pose a security threat”.

“Of late there have been times when the checked-in baggage carried firearms and in some cases also live cartridges. The move would plug that hole in the security and would make the baggage cleared for cargo hold absolutely sterile,” said a CISF official requesting anonymity.

“The entry of a number of smaller airlines who did not want to invest in scanning machines and instead used the facility of other airlines was causing a lot of clutter. Also the move of the smaller airlines to outsource the scanning function could also be a security hazard,” said a well-placed source.

What is still unclear, however, is the level of the in-line screening. “Two systems exist — one with five levels of screening and the other with three levels. The former would, however, occupy lots of space as it has a CT scan in the fourth and the fifth levels,” said Prakash. Sources said the airport may go for a three-level security screening system.

“It will be a centralised baggage scanning system. The first scan starts after the passenger has airlines clearance of weight limit. A huge conveyor belt would then scan the baggage with help of an automatic X-ray machine,” said a CISF official.

Cleared baggage would then go to the respective airlines as registered baggage. If found suspicious, the machine would again screen the baggage in the second layer and, if still not cleared, it would be checked manually by either the CISF personnel.

The CISF, however, says that putting the system in place involves lot of practical problems. Apart from the replacement of the existing airline baggage space, there are issues to be settled.

“Which agency is to provide the manual security support is unclear. Will all airlines combine to form one agency or only the CISF will be involved is also undecided. If the CISF is involved, then the costs and the number of personnel for the job, too, would go up,” said Prakash.