NSG prepares for hijack threat

New Delhi: India has put its elite commando force, the National Security Guard (NSG), on high alert and stationed helicopters at its base for quick movement of troops in view of “credible” intelligence that Pakistan-based terrorist groups plan to hijack an Indian commercial aircraft in south Asia.
The Home Ministry had sounded an alert — reportedly based on Western intelligence — on Wednesday and followed it up with another on Thursday.
According to the inputs, groups linked to the Al Qaeda, Lashkar and Jamaat-ud-Dawa plan to hijack an Air India plane operating in any of the SAARC countries — India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan, Pakistan.
“Helicopters from the Border Security Force have already been requisitioned by the NSG,” a ministry official who didn’t want to be named said.
To make the skies safer, sky marshals (armed NSG commandos in plainclothes) will be placed on flights believed to be high risk and all those boarding flights will be frisked at ladder point.
“Hundreds of NSG men are already deployed on flights operating in sensitive airports. The deployment is in large numbers but we can’t share further details,” a senior NSG official told HT.
23/01/10 Manish Tiwari/Aloke Tikku/Hindustan Times

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010