Explosive found in Kingfisher craft; Kerala asked to act

NEW DELHI: The home ministry has asked the Kerala government to take immediate action against those responsible for planting an explosive in the cargo compartment of a Kingfisher flight that arrived from Bangalore.

“It is a serious security lapse,” said U K Bansal, special secretary for internal security in the home ministry. “As far as we know, there was no detonator and there was no timing device, so the bomb could not have gone off by itself. Nevertheless it’s an explosive... which is a very serious matter. So we will have to look at the type of security precautions which are put in place at our airports,” he added.

The home ministry had recommended extra security measures for airlines after intelligence on a threat from militants to hijack a plane in January ahead of the Republic Day.

Reports from Thiruvananthapuram said the Kingfisher flight from Bangalore arrived at 8.25 am and a Central Industrial Security Force official found the suspected explosive, the size of a cricket ball, wrapped in a Malayalam newspaper, city police commissioner M R Ajith Kumar said. “This was found in the cargo compartment and the official immediately took it up. It is a suspected explosive and investigations are on,” Mr Kumar told reporters.

“We are investigating how this happened. Certainly this is a security lapse. The suspected explosive is now in the possession of experts and investigations will reveal what exactly it is,” Mr Kumar added.

In a statement released to the media, Kingfisher Airlines said: “A routine security check was being carried out after 27 guests on board had been deplaned. During this an unclaimed package was found and the matter was immediately reported to authorities. The package was removed as a precautionary measure.”

Meanwhile, civil aviation ministry officials told reporters in New Delhi that a probe has already been ordered into this serious lapse of security. “The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is investigating,” officials said.

The BCAS is the regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India.