The Juhu airport, which was plagued by repeated thefts over the last few months, can now guard its premises even in pitch-dark, as the authorities on Saturday received a state-of-the-art Israeli made night vision goggles.
Over the last few months, the Juhu airport has lost items and electrical equipment worth `2.5 lakh to `3 lakh to thieves from the nearby slums, who brazenly enter the premises because of the lack of security. The nearby Pushpak hangar had also lost items worth around `2 lakh.
“Most of the thieves are drug addicts from the nearby Nehru Nagar slums, who steal metal and copper objects and sell them to scrap dealers for `500 to `700. Last week, we caught a man who had entered the runway. He was looking for something to steal, when one of our staff members apprehended him,” said an official. While the thieves generally steal electrical “junction boxes”, the most daring act was sawing off an electrical pole from the middle.
The AAI bought a total of 57 goggles from Kwick Nxt Generation Technologies. “Four were distributed to the four airports of Pune, Aurangabad, Goa and Juhu in the western region,” said airport director M. Yadgiri. The goggle has a range 3x range (350 metres) and can be increase to 5x (500 to 700 metres) with extra lens. It runs on 2 “AA Alkaline” batteries and can also be attached to helmet. “The five to six unarmed guards from the Maharashtra guards are old and cannot take action against anti-social elements, which emboldens the thieves even further,” Mr Yadgiri added.