Alarm bells rang in the aviation security establishment Sunday after a Kenya-based chartered aircraft flying from Muscat to Dhaka strayed off course and overflew Jodhpur military airspace, sources said.
The security agencies immediately ordered the aircraft searched after it landed at Jaipur for refuelling. A high-level team, which includes intelligence personnel, is now searching the aircraft and interrogating its crew.
Till late Sunday night, the team was examining the plane for any suspicious material on board and questioning the crew on why the aircraft flew over IAF establishments. Both the pilots appeared Kenyan, the sources said. It had four crew on board.
The team is trying to determine if the aircraft’s deviation from its flight path was inadvertent, and also the purpose of the flight to Dhaka. The possibility of it being on an illegal clandestine reconnaissance mission is being examined.
The flight path deviation was detected immediately by air traffic control, which alerted the security agencies. After 26/11, the intelligence agencies have been vigilant on foiling any terror attacks from the air. The security establishment is particularly wary as Rajasthan borders Pakistan and guarding defence establishments in the border state is critical.