27 detained at IGI after hijack scare
Twenty-seven persons who were to catch flights to Dubai were detained with fake visas at the international terminal of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday evening after a call was made to the call centres of two airlines that two groups of Bangladeshis would try to hijack aircraft from Delhi.
According to airport sources, of the 27 persons, 12 were to board a Kingfisher flight to Dubai while the other 15 were to board a Jet Airways flight to Dubai. On Tuesday afternoon, a call was made to a Kingfisher call-centre at Pune that a group of 12 persons would board the aircraft to Dubai from Delhi with fake documents and would try to hijack the aircraft. The Jet Airways call centre at Delhi received a similar call about 15 persons trying to board the Jet flight to Dubai.
Security agencies then went on high alert. The group of 27 persons were identified on arrival at the airport. Once inside, their documents were checked and they were found to be carrying fake visas. Sources said the 27 persons were being interrogated by a joint team of the Intelligence Bureau, Delhi Police and CISF.
Airline and security officials suspect that the incident was a fake visa racket and that one of the disgruntled touts could have tipped off the authorities. “The reference to a hijack could be a way to draw immediate attention but we cannot take any chances,” said a source.
The authorities are also ascertaining whether there are any Bangladeshis among the 27 detained persons.
Sources said there were no dangerous objects seized from the baggage of any of the 27 persons, who were also frisked thoroughly. Indian authorities are also probing the source of the tip-off calls made to the two call centres.
Meanwhile, authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also understood to be probing the fake visa racket. In the wake of the incident, security has been further tightened at IGI Airport to ensure that there is no threat to air safety and aircraft.
Organised rackets of touts promising visas to people desperate to migrate abroad to greener pastures have often been busted by authorities in various Indian cities but the magnitude of the problem has increased drastically in recent times with dubious agents trying to illegally smuggle people abroad or provide them with fake documents and visas. Prime destinations for such illegal trafficking include western Europe and the Gulf countries.
Post new comment