Shocking security lapses at city airport
 

The seizure of 6.3 kg of a contraband drug that was hidden under the bonnet of a tractor and smuggled inside the sterile area of the airport brings to light the security inadequacies at the Chennai Airport.

A senior intelligence officer posed a question: If 6.3 kg of ephedrine, a banneddrug, could be smuggled into the Chennai Airport, why not 1 kg of RDX? “The value of the smuggled drug is not important, but the security breach is our major concern,“ the intelligence officer added.

“We attach a lot of importance to the incident from a security point of view,“ said Chennai Airport director E.P.Hareendranathan. “We are looking into the incident and CISF is also conducting an inquiry,“ he added.

CISF spokesperson S.K.Saraswat told DC that CISF men had no role in the smuggling of contraband inside the airport. “It was only a procedural lapse. The two concerned officers are under investigations and could face serious
actions,“ he added.

According to him, it is not possible to check all parts of a vehicle every time it passes through security and CISF officials usually resort to random checking of parts.

“The airline staff had taken advantage of this procedure,“ he added. However, Mr Saraswat noted that it was the duty of the security officer that no dangerous items went through the security cordon. In this particular incident, the driver had carried the banned substance under the tractor bonnet.

-dc chn