Fear of 9/11 repeat: Mid-flight check facility extended

New Delhi: With recent intelligence inputs suggesting that Pakistan-based terrorists may copy Al-Qaida's 9/11-type operation to mount an aerial attack on India, the government has decided to extend Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) -- which allows real-time passenger/crew screening by security agencies -- to six more international airports.
The airports to be covered under APIS are Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Goa, Thiruvananthapuram and Amritsar.
The system -- which makes it mandatory for international airline pilots to provide information about passengers and crew on board within 15 minutes of taking off -- is operational at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi international airports.
Sources in the home ministry said the decision was part of a number of precautionary measures being taken by different agencies in the wake of intelligence inputs which warned of terror attacks through aerial route.
While the CISF and state police have already tightened security at airports across the country, the Indian Air Force has deployed additional surface-to-air missile batteries and "sensors" around vital assets across cities and put fighter jets on alert at various airbases to counter any threat.
The official said extension of APIS, which has been helping security agencies track "suspicious" individuals, to six more airports would be yet another step to make Indian airspace safe.
Under the system, international airline pilots provide details like complete name, date of birth, nationality, sex, passport number, country where passport was issued, country of permanent residence and visa particulars of all persons in the airplane to authorities.
The moment an Indian agency gets such information, it crosschecks it with its own data -- kept by Bureau of Immigration -- to verify its authenticity through background details of travellers.
08/12/08 Vishwa Mohan/Times of India

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Categories: Safety Dec 2008