A private guard posted at the airport fulfilled his desire to board an aircraft and see what it looks like inside last Monday.
Guard wants to see a plane from inside, CISF man lets him in
MUMBAI: A private guard posted at the airport fulfilled his desire to board an aircraft and see what it looks like inside last Monday, but a Central Industrial Security Force man may pay for his caper.
Ganesh Kharath, 18, a guard with BIS Security, was caught strolling around the aircraft parked on the apron of the domestic terminal at 5am on June 23. BIS provides the outer ring of security on the city side of Mumbai airport.
Kharath, a resident of Virar, was posted at the cargo area of the domestic terminal and had always nursed the ambition of seeing the interiors of a plane. Early on Monday, when there was not much work to do, he decided to fulfil his desire. According to a BIS official, he told an acquaintance from the CISF, who was posted at Gate 1, how he desperately wanted to see a plane from inside. Finding it to be an innocent request, the CISF guard let him on to the apron.
Thrilled, Kharath wandered around the area where aircraft were being cleaned for departure later that morning. Kharath quickly entered one of the aircraft evading the airline’s security and slept inside for some time, said the BIS official.
Pleased, he emerged from the plane and was about to enter another when an airline official spotted him and informed the Mumbai International Airport Limited (Mial). Mial officials took him into custody and handed him over to the CISF.
Kharath was eventually let off with a warning. No police complaint was lodged. “Mial and BIS informed us of the incident on the phone and said they would conduct an inquiry and let us know in case they wanted to lodge a case,” said a senior officer from the Santa Cruz airport police station. “They have not got back to us since.”
Sanjay Prakash, CISF senior commandant, confirmed the incident and said an inquiry was being conducted against the guard who let Kharath in. Asked why no police complaint was lodged, he said, “It was not a case of intrusion as our official permitted Kharath to go in. We will take action against him.”
Meanwhile, Mial spokesman Manish Kalghatgi said the company, alarmed by repeated cases of security breach, will take up the matter with the CISF at the next meeting of the security committee.
In the past few months there have been several cases of security breach at Mumbai airport. In all these cases, the CISF kept mum or blamed it on shortage of personnel.
On February 19, a Qatari national, Watangi Gafarsab, who was to be deported from Mumbai after immigration officials found his passport to be forged, escaped from the transit area. He walked out of the Sahar terminal building without being noticed or questioned by immigration and CISF officials. Anybody who goes in or out is supposed to be asked for an entry pass or passport by CISF personnel at the gate.
On June 2, Rameshwar Prasad Shukla, 34, a resident of Bandra, entered the airport on a bicycle. He was spotted in Bay 17 of the domestic apron by Mial’s safety officials and not the CISF.
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