The Hindu : New Delhi News : Security scare at airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Security scare at airport

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 17. Two passengers carrying a total of 13 live cartridges in their baggage gave quite a scare to security personnel at Indira Gandhi International Airport here and that too when the forces were on a high alert on account of Independence Day.

In the first case on August 14, during pre-embarkation security check of flight CX-752, Sub-Inspector V.P.K. Rao of Central Industrial Security Force noticed some bullet-like images on the monitor of the X-ray machine while the hand baggage of a passenger, Jaspal Singh Chawla, was being scanned.

Subsequently, the bag was physically checked and three live rounds of .32 bore were recovered. Mr Chawla, a resident of Rajouri Garden in West Delhi, when questioned, claimed that the live rounds were inadvertently left in his baggage and that he possessed a valid arms licence.

To prove the ownership of a licence, Mr Chawla then got a copy of the same faxed to the airport. It was revealed that his licence (WDRG 040061) had been issued by the Delhi Administration and was valid up to January 26, 2006. Though the security personnel police allowed Mr Chawla to board his flight, they confiscated the ammunition and forwarded it to the Indira Gandhi International Airport police station for further action.

On Independence Day, the security personnel were in for an even bigger shock. During the post-embarkation check of Flight No AJ 128 in the Security hold area 10 and 11 of the International Terminal, Sub-Inspector Shishu Ranjan noticed some bullet-like images on the X-ray monitor while the baggage of a woman passenger, Manjula Dhawan, was being passed through it. A physical search of the bag led to the recovery of 10 live rounds of .32 bore.

The passenger during subsequent questioning disclosed that she was a U.S. national and had come to India on a short visit to dispose of her house in Delhi. Ms Dhawan claimed that her servant had packed her hand baggage and it was he who had put the live rounds in it. Since the woman was 65 years old, the security personnel took her at face value and allowed her to board the flight after recording her statement, seizing the live rounds and filing a written report with the IGI Airport police station.

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