Pat-down checks mandatory for all West-bound flyers

Mumbai: All West-bound flights taking off from airports in India have been put on high terror alert after a threat received on April 6. The terror alert was issued to all airports by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) with strict instructions to adopt stringent scanning and checking measures and guidelines were sent out to various airlines operating on the US and European sectors.
Security agencies have been asked to follow the guidelines for a month before fresh directives are issued. Officials said there was no specific information on location or time or airline under threat. Officials said the alert was issued by the Union home ministry after intelligence inputs on a possible terror attack were received from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The security machinery at Mumbai was instantly put on alert to avoid any lapse.
The ministry has asked for 100% pat-down checks on passengers boarding flights for Western countries and a mandatory manual check of passengers’ cabin baggage. Airlines are supposed to conduct secondary ladder-point security checks for all departing flights and the alert is effective for 30 days from the date of issue.
13/04/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Apr 2010, Foreign Apr 2010, Safety Apr 2010