High alert sounded at 13 airports after hijacking threats

NEW DELHI: Security has been stepped up at 13 airports, including Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Patna after intelligence inputs warned that terrorists may attempt to hijack an aircraft.

A high alert has been sounded at airports, all falling in northern parts of the country, as the inputs has suggested that the hijacking target could be a plane either coming from Kathmandu or going there, highly-placed sources said here.

Intelligence input suggested that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba could be involved in this.

CISF, which is guarding all these airports, stepped up vigil and deployed additional personnel after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security sounded the paramilitary force about the danger.

The airports where security has been beefed up included Varanasi, Gaya, Guwahati, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Chandigarh, Shimla, Bhuntar, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow, the sources said. 

When contacted, a CISF spokesman confirmed that the force has received instructions from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security regarding the alert, but refused to elaborate.

Sources said emergency anti-hijacking measures and multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place at all the 13 airports as the level of threat has been raised to maximum.

Other measures taken include 100 per cent manual checking of cabin baggage in "specific destination flights" besides increasing the profiling of passengers and deployment of security personnel in plainclothes.

Quick Reaction Teams (QRT) deployed at these airports have been activated, while Bomb Disposal Squads and sniffer dogs pressed into service as part of increased surveillance measures, they said.

Security officials were also carrying out extensive searches in the outer zone of the airport, including the parking place, while special teams are patrolling the "city-side", the technical term for non-operational areas.