Shoes, belts to be taken off as airports step up frisking after Brussels attacks

New Delhi: The security agencies have increased their vigil at major airports across India following the heightened alert issued by the intelligence agencies after the Brussels attacks. As part of additional security measures, passengers are being made to take off footwear and belts and go through extra frisking. More commandos have also been deployed.

Airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad have been selected for these measures, where CISF and state police personnel have increased vigil and passengers are being screened minutely. The security agencies have reintroduced risk-based Secondary Ladder Point Checks, which entails frisking people before they board the aircraft.

Fliers are being asked to take off their footwear and belts to undertake a “clean search”, a second layer of profiling-based body search and frisking is being done just before passengers board an aircraft. The security teams along the peripheries have been told to be extra cautious as people can enter the terminal area unchecked, sources said.

The frisking of passengers on the air side just before they enter the aircraft has been started for people who appear suspicious, thus not all passengers have to undergo it.

More intensified checks are also being made of both hand baggage and booked cargo of fliers in the wake of the Brussels attack.

Quick Reaction Teams of CISF commandos and the local police have been positioned at vantage locations around all major airports to enhance vigil along their peripheries. Special anti-sabotage teams and bomb detection and disposal teams and sniffer dogs have been asked to be on standby at these airports.

Plainclothes security personnel have also been deployed in larger numbers to keep tab on suspicious movements at these facilities, sources said. “Keeping in mind the “security hold” pattern at airports, where passengers enter the terminal area unchecked and are frisked later in a designated area, surveillance and patrol teams along the peripheries have been asked to be extra cautious, mainly keeping in mind the heightened security alert after the Brussels attack and in view of the vulnerability of these facilities,” the sources said.

India does not follow the “concourse security” plan for civil aviation operations that entails frisking of fliers and their luggage before they enter the airport.

“The security paraphernalia at places where there is a large public interface is definitely more proactive than earlier keeping in mind that there are no added hassles in their movement and the security of travellers,” the sources said.