Security at airports upped, flyers to be frisked manually

Hyderabad: Passengers will be manually frisked at airports following the heightened security alert declared by the Centre. This could cause delays, and passengers have been asked to report early. Earlier in the day on Saturday, a part of Terminal 2 of the Mumbai international airport was evacuated after authorities received what they said was a “non-specific” bomb threat call at around 11 am. It was later found to be a hoax.

The specified reporting time at the airport is two hours before the flight but it has been found that 30 per cent of the passengers report only before one hour. Visitors are also not allowed at the airports from March 1.

A senior government official at the airport said, “People have to now report early because we will not rely only on security checks using machines. Passengers are going to be checked manually. This is time-consuming and those who are found to be carrying something suspicious will be taken aside for further investigations.”

The Central Industrial Security Force, which is incharge of the airport secuity, can now check the pockets and undergarments.

Apart from the CISF security checks, airline personnel can check passengers in case they find something suspicious. Airlines have been asked to give a list of do’s and don’ts to their passengers so that confusion at the airport is minimised. While sharp objects, nail cutters, glass bottles, liquids and pens are prohibited, those carrying scriptures in Arabic, Sanskrit or languages which are not understood at the particular destination can be questioned.

An official said, “Passengers are advised to declare if they are carrying anything out of their personal beliefs to the airport authorities. Often handbags are found to be filled with a lot of clutter. This raises doubts, and the time the CISF personnel take to check them increases. Passengers have to remove belts and boots for checks.”