A Russian-made airgun found “abandoned” close to the new terminal building created a flutter at the airport here on Thursday.
Alerted by an outsider, the Central Industrial Security Force personnel took possession of the gun, and other paraphernalia, including four cylinders, a plastic container of pellets and a leather cover of the gun at around noon, the police said.
During enquiry, it was found that a Russian national, Roman Kalashnikov (25), was caught carrying the airgun and other things in his baggage when he came to board the Madurai-Colombo Spicejet flight. The airways employees found the air pistol while scanning his baggage.
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When the Spicejet officials objected to him carrying the gun, the Russian, a cook by profession, had claimed that it was only an airgun, for which no licence was required. “He claimed that he had faced no problem in carrying the same gun when he landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi,” a person in charge of security at the airport said. Mr. Roman had come to India in July and visited several places.
The CISF officials handed over the airgun to the Perungudi police and lodged a formal complaint over the “abandoned” gun.
Though security officials on record said that Mr. Roman had dumped the gun in a secluded place so that he could board the flight, an airport source said that the Russian was allowed to fly to Colombo since his visa was expiring on Thursday. “It might land him in more problems, if he does not leave the country before the expiry of his visa. So, he was permitted to board the flight to Colombo en route to Russia,” the source added.
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Meanwhile, sleuths of various security agencies, like Q-branch and Intelligence Bureau visited the airport and made enquiries.