Kolkata: Over 1,000 Air India boarding passes were recovered from a passenger at the Kolkata airport on Friday. The recovery triggered alarm bells in security circles as boarding passes are critical documents that allow passengers access areas usually out of bounds to anyone other than genuine airport users.
The passes were recovered after a SpiceJet security staffer manning a baggage X-ray monitor became suspicious after he discovered a box in Satyendra Verma's bag that appeared to be full of currency notes.
There is no restriction on carrying money other than during the election time. But the official decided to check the bag, leading to the recovery. The passes were all blank without any details printed at the check-in counter and printed in Mumbai. All the passes appeared to be original. Verma (42), a Nalanda resident, told his interrogators that his brother-in-law had given him the box and he was clueless about what it contained. "I was asked to carry the box and hand it over to another man at the Port Blair airport," said Verma. He had arrived from Bihar's Nalanda district a day earlier to catch a flight to Port Blair.
30/03/13 Times of India
