Terror alert: Plan to hijack Indian plane

India has put all Air India/Indian Airlines flights operating in South Asia on high security alert after specific intelligence was received yesterday that Islamic fundamentalist groups aligned to the Al-Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Toiba plan to hijack one such flight.
According to intelligence sources, the target is possibly an Air India/Indian Airlines aircraft operating to and from “any one of the SAARC countries” and that it can happen anytime “in the near future”.
Given the high credibility of the intelligence, the Home Ministry held an urgent meeting yesterday itself and issued a set of directions aimed at upgrading security, which included deployment of sky marshals on all flights of the carrier operating in the region.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an advisory to all airlines to conduct a mandatory “100 per cent secondary ladder point check” until January 31 on all aircraft flying between these eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
22/01/10 Pranab Dhal Samanta/Indian Express

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Categories: Safety Jan 2010