New Delhi/ Thiruvananthapuram ,March 21: In what a top home ministry official described as a “serious security lapse”, a crude explosive bomb-like object with gunpowder inside was found in the cargo section of a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft at Thiruvananthapuram airport on Sunday morning after the flight had landed from Bengaluru.
Civil aviation ministry sources in New Delhi confirmed that a crude explosive had been found in the cargo section of the Kingfisher aircraft at Thiruvananthapuram and that a high-level inquiry had been ordered by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). “However, there was no detonator or any other object which could have triggered an explosion,” a civil ministry official said. The small ATR aircraft (Flight IT-4731) had 27 passengers on board.
Sources in the security establishment said the crude explosive was a ball-like object with about 15 to 20 gms of gunpowder inside and was wrapped in a Malayalam-language newspaper. Sources in both the civil aviation and home ministries said the gunpowder found in the crude bomb-like object was like a cracker. Nevertheless, the presence of the object with gunpowder on board has stunned aviation security agencies since it could have posed enormous danger to the passengers on board.
Panic spread in the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Sunday morning after the bomb-like object was detected in the cargo hold of the flight that landed at 8.30 am.
It was while staff were cleaning the cargo hold that the object, the size of a cricket ball, was found wrapped in a Malayalam newspaper. By that time the 27 passengers of the flight had left the airport. Police and bomb squad personnel immediately rushed to the spot, confiscated the explosive and defused it.
The aircraft was then towed to the isolation bay and examined carefully. But no other explosive substance was found. Police sources said the “country bomb” was not a powerful one but its presence in the cargo hold indicated a serious security failure. City police commissioner Ajithkumar said an investigation had been launched. /The explosive is being checked by forensic experts,” he added. “It is a security failure, no doubt.”
BIAL, the private operator that manages Bengaluru airport, said the parcel in which the explosive was found was not part of the registered check-in baggage that goes into the cargo section. “An object in such a parcel would never have been cleared by the in-line baggage system. Further, the parcel did not have any tag on it. It’s definite that it did not pass through the modern in-line baggage system. But how it found its way into the aircraft has to be investigated. It’s the job of the airline security to thoroughly check the aircraft before a flight,” said a source at BIAL.
Terming the incident as a “serious security lapse”, special secretary (internal security) in the home ministry U.K. Bansal said, “The only possibility is that it was put at the time of loading of baggage or at the time when it was being unloaded in Thiruvanathapuram.” He added, “There was no detonator, no timing device, so the bomb could not have gone off by itself.” However, Mr Bansal added that if the “object” had been “rubbed hard” or was hit hard on the ground, it could have caused an explosion. He said he would not put the blame on any “particular category of staff” till he had more information. Security agencies are also probing whether the object was placed in the aircraft sometime at night before the early-morning flight.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Kingfisher Airlines said, “Shortly after Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT-4731 landed in Thiruvananthapuram, and after all 27 guests on board had de-planed, a routine security check was being carried out. During this security check, an unclaimed package was found. The matter was immediately reported to the authorities who have removed the package from the aircraft and, as a precautionary measure, the aircraft is being checked by the security agencies.” Kingfisher Airlines refused to comment on the contents of the “package” and said it was being investigated. However, an airline source said the package looked very “suspicious” and that “it was not a normal package”.
The CISF, Kingfisher Airlines and airport authorities both at Bengaluru and Thiruvanathapuram have also joined the investigation. A blame game of sorts too appears to have broken out but predictably no one is on record on this. While BIAL sources said the parcel was not a registered one and that it is the job of the airline security to inspect the aircraft before flights, sources in Kingfisher Airlines said any definite conclusion could be reached only after the probe results. Sources in the CISF pointed out that the responsibility of screening check-in baggage or checking the aircraft is not that of the CISF.
Aviation security agencies, who are already on high alert following periodic intelligence inputs of a terror threat, are likely to continue with their high state of alert following this incident. According to intelligence inputs, terror groups are continuing attempts to target India’s aviation sector.
Police sources on Thiruvananthapuram said investigators were working on the assumption that the country bomb could not have been placed in the cargo hold without the knowledge of insiders. The commissioner and his team have already interrogated the cargo staff and have ruled out the possibility of it having been kept in the bag of some passenger since the explosive would have been detected during checking.
The flight was thoroughly checked and later flew back to Bengaluru. “We are taking it very seriously since it is a major security lapse,” said Kerala minister M. Vijayakumar, who visited the airport.
Age Correspondents