A 28-year-old youth, against whom a look-out notice was issued by the Intelligence Bureau, was off-loaded from the Kuwait Airways aircraft minutes before take-off from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Kuwait on Sunday.
Highly placed sources in the airport said the youth, Kabeer, a resident of Koyampathudi, in Wayanad district in North Kerala, had been detained and is being questioned by the intelligence and security agencies at the airport terminal. The reason for issuing the lookout notice by the IB reportedly from New Delhi against the youth is not known.
The Air Traffic Control issued a directive to the commander of the KU 332 flight, on the request of the immigration authorities, following a tip-off that a person with look-out notice had managed to board the aircraft after completing all the immigration formalities and security check. The aircraft was taxied back to the parking bay and the youth was taken off the plane by the security officials.
The incident has come as a shock to the intelligence and security agencies as the youth had easily passed the security check. The immigration wing is managed by the Kerala police and the security of the airport is taken care of by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The incident comes close on the heels of the unconfirmed reports that two men, Omprakash and Puthenpalam Rajesh, against whom the Kerala Police have issued a look-out notice in connection with the incidents related to the murder of Paul George Muthoot on Saturday last in Alappuzha district, had managed to fly out of the country to Dubai.
Airport sources said this was the first time that a flight was called back on the request of the immigration after it had proceeded for take-off and a person with look-out notice was off-loaded at the international airport here.
The security agencies are tight-lipped about the details of the youth and the destination to which he was proceeding. The flight left for Kuwait after a delay of 30 minutes. It landed here at 6 a.m. and was to depart at 7 p.m.
