Lax security at the Kempegowda International Airport, one of the most sensitive potential terror targets in the city, has raised concerns. At least three incidents of security breach at the airport have come to light in the past one month alone.
In a recent incident, a deported national walked out of the airport without any hassle despite the immigration department being informed of his arrival beforehand. Rahman Lashkar, a Bangladeshi national was deported from Kuwait for travelling on a fake Indian passport with a Bengaluru address. He simply walked out of the airport.
The immigration and CISF personnel soon realised their blunder and launched a massive manhunt. By then, he was no where near the airport. The local police saved the day when they caught him in the nick of time at Yeshwantpur Railway Station.
Further exposing the chinks in the security set up, the incident occurred when an intelligence report from central agencies had supposedly put security personnel at the airport on high alert.
Customs checks at the airport have also come under severe criticism. Last week, two youths flew from Mumbai to Bengaluru and walked out with two kilograms of gold bars on them. They were later caught by the local police in the parking lot outside while fighting over sharing the booty.
During raids across the city, customs officials recovered a huge cache of foreign-brand cigarettes, which had reportedly been smuggled into the city through KIA.
While Mumbai and Chennai were the favoured landing destinations for smuggled goods till a few years ago, Bengaluru is emerging as a hotspot either due to lax security or corruption at the airport, said a former intelligence official who had a stint at KIA. “Not that all have gone scot-free. Many smugglers are also caught at KIA. But corruption is an issue,” he said.
Corruption in the customs department at the airport has not gone undetected either. In September this year, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a senior superintendent of customs at KIA for demanding a bribe of Rs. 2.5 lakh.
A senior customs official conceded that corruption may have led to reduced detection and increase in smuggling, but took great pains to stress that when it came to national security, everyone, irrespective of rank, had zero tolerance. However, the former intelligence official said that lax customs and corruption leads to a general laxity in security at the airport, which can be exploited by terrorists and other disruptive forces. “From the day of inception, KIA has been a high-profile terror target. There are intelligence alerts almost every two months. We can’t afford lax security at such a place,” he said.
Published - December 24, 2015 12:00 am IST
