In a serious security breach at the city airport, a mentally unsound man, in his early 20s, scaled the perimeter wall and reached the taxiway on Thursday afternoon, where a SpiceJet flight to Bengaluru was awaiting clearance for take-off.
Airport officials said the perimeter intrusion and detection system installed on the periphery of the airport triggered an alarm, issuing an alert to teams of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. The system, which is based on taut wire technology, has sensors weaved into the barbed wire fence surrounding the airport’s wall.
The pilots of flight SG-634, which was on Taxiway N1 next to runway 27, also sent an alert and switched off the aircraft’s engines as a precautionary measure. Two other flights that were about to land had to carry out a go-around to avoid an untoward incident. CISF spokesperson Hemendra Singh confirmed the breach and said the man was caught and handed over to the Sahar police.
A video of the intruder, shot from an aircraft waiting to take off, shows him approach flight SG-634 from the nose-end and touch its nose-wheel. He then approaches the right engine, which the alert pilots had switched off by then, and raises his arms. He is finally seen walking under the aircraft’s belly before touching the main landing gear.
After questioning, the Sahar police handed over the Sion resident to the Airport police as the incident occurred under their jurisdiction. Senior police inspector Dnyaneshwar Khollam said the man jumped over a public toilet complex, which was on level with the airport wall. Mr. Khollam said, “He was unarmed and appears to be mentally unstable. Last week, he missed his medication and climbed atop a BEST bus. We are not permitted to disclose the name as per the provisions of the Lunacy Act.”
The man was taken into custody and released after preliminary investigation.
