Monday, February 22, 2021

Theft cases on the rise at Bengaluru airport security checkpoints

Bengaluru: Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has been witnessing a number of theft cases involving passengers stealing valuables and cash of fellow flyers during security clearance inside the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cordon before boarding.

The valuables include watches, wallets, headphones and fitness bands and in the last four days alone, two flyers were arrested.

Sources said thefts during security checks have become a daily affair and CISF sleuths on duty have nabbed many suspects with the help of CCTV footage. On Saturday morning, Ramesh Babu, scheduled to travel to Visakhapatnam on an Air Asia flight, approached the CISF team stating that his wrist watch placed on the tray went missing post scanning. The officers examined the CCTV footage and spotted a fellow passenger pocketing the watch from the tray.

The suspect was tracked to the IndiGo Airlines flight 6E 345, which was scheduled to take off to Patna at 9.05am. He was quizzed on board the aircraft by officers who deplaned him after the watch was found in his possession. The suspect, Lalan Kumar, 36, a carpenter from Bihar, was handed over to city police for further probe, sources said.

On Thursday afternoon, a woman suspected of stealing an expensive wrist watch belonging to a fellow passenger, created a ruckus near the gate when a CISF team attempted to frisk her. Goa-bound passenger Megha Diwakar, who was scheduled to board an IndiGo Airlines flight at 2.10pm, had complained to the team about her missing watch.

The team examined the CCTV footage and found a woman taking the watch from the tray and leaving towards the gate. When stopped, she claimed the search was humiliating. However, she was taken away for frisking but the body and bag searches did not yield anything. An officer noticed her tightly closed fist and forced open the palm to find the stolen watch. The suspect, Ruchi Ahuja, who was to board Vistara flight UK 804 to Delhi at 3pm was handed over to KIA police, sources said.

22/02/21 Petlee Peter/Times of India

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