Stepson grounds flight over property dispute

Mumbai: A family dispute may be behind the drama at the international airport on Sunday, when a caller identifying himself as Suresh Chavan said a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative was boarding a Mumbai-Dubai Emirates flight.
Flight EK 505, with 356 people, including crew, on board, took off after multiple security checks at 2.04pm.
“At 9.55am, the airlines cargo supervisor received a call on the landline, claiming that a 61-year-old passenger, Shahbaz Khan, seated on (seat number) 17F on the aircraft, was an LeT operative,” a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official at the airport said.
Security staff and others sounded an alarm and cancelled the departure, scheduled for 10.15am, and all passengers were deplaned.
Police said a case had been registered against the caller.
Shahbaz’s relatives said they suspected the call was made by Aslam, his son from the first marriage. Police said Shahbaz was involved in a property dispute with Aslam over a residential building at Fort, which also houses some travel agency offices.
Shahbaz was travelling with his second wife Munira (50) to Dubai. Shahbaz and Munira were deplaned and detained for questioning by the CISF, air intelligence unit, bureau of civil aviation security and intelligence bureau officials, before being handed over to local police.
Shahbaz, from Modi Street in Fort, runs a private security agency and is a mohalla committee member, his family members said.
There are 11 non-cognisable offences registered against Shahbaz at MRA Marg police station, the police said; most relate to a property dispute and have been filed by Aslam. At dispute is a residential building at Fort, which also houses some travel agency offices.
07/02/10 Poornima Swaminathan/Naveeta Singh

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Categories: Airports Feb 2010, Foreign Feb 2010, Safety Feb 2010