Hijack alert: Heightened security may lead to delays at IGIA

If you’re travelling from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) this week, better reach earlier than usual to avoid panic at the last moment. According to senior security officials, a significant step-up in the existing security set-up, with multiple frisking points and tightened secondary checking, may cause delays in boarding.

Security arrangements were stepped up in Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad airports, after the Mumbai Police received a call from an unidentified woman, who claimed that she heard a group of students planning to hijack a plane from one of these airports.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Director General OP Singh told DNA: “Immediately after receiving the threat, an airport coordination meeting was called at all the airports to review the security, and adequate measures were put in place. The meeting was attended by local police, Civil Aviation Bureau officers, senior CISF personnel, and intelligence sleuths.”

“Armed men in plain clothes have been deployed at airside and even inside the terminals to keep a hawk-eye vigil on suspicious passengers. The focus has been on secondary ladder point checking, just before boarding the aircraft. The airlines officials have been asked to stay alert. Marshals and CISF Quick Response Teams (QRT) are also patrolling on airside …read more