In an incident of a serious security lapse, a cargo consignment containing low intensity explosive chemical managed to evade the multi- level cargo security screening at the Cochin airport and got up to the final point before being loaded in an aircraft here on Sunday morning.
Officials said panic spread at the airport when smoke erupted from a packet while the cargo officials were loading cargo in a Kingfisher aircraft to Chennai in the morning. On a detailed examination by the security officials, the consignment was found containing boric powder and two bottles of liquid detergent.
The box was found dispatched by Blue Dart- a courier company in Kochi on behalf of the Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) to its laboratory in Chennai, they added.
According to officials, the courier company had failed to provide a declaration regarding the contents inside the packet which were mandatory for any chemical consignment. The box could have evaded the scanners as the equipment had been installed for inspecting different types of improvised explosives connected to a battery or a timer, they added.
The top officials of the HUL and the courier company have been called to the airport for detailed interrogation and investigations are on to ascertain how the object managed to complete the screening procedure. Meanwhile, the flight IT 2482 later left here by 9.30 a.m. with a delay of twenty minutes with 36 passengers onboard, said the officials.
