With a red alert issued in the run-up to Independence Day, all cabin baggage would now be manually checked by security personnel, after they go through X-ray scanning, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here, a GMR official said. As per instructions of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, besides “100 percent manual checking” of cabin baggage, the airport would also see an increased manual and instrumental surveillance at ticket counters, exit and entry points and parking lots. There will also be more checks before boarding. These, the official added, are in addition to the routine security checks over the next few days.
Visitors’ entry would also be banned inside RGIA, and the visitors’ gallery would remain closed, during the red alert phase. On usual days, only baggage deemed “suspicious” after X-ray scanning is opened, the official explained. But the guard, a security official said, is not let down even on a “normal” day. With many abandoned or unattended baggage received by the airport authorities, officials said each piece of luggage is duly put through anti-sabotage checks to rule out the risk of improvised explosive device. They are subsequently checked by sniffer dogs and the bomb squad for explosive devices.
The luggage left behind or forgotten by passengers is declared “safe” only after all these checks, the GMR official said. They are then handed over by security agencies to the counter manned by GMR for restoring such items. “Most such abandoned baggage is found in the pre- and post-security areas, or on the city side and inside the terminal areas,” another airport official said, explaining how unattended baggage is checked.