Security beefed up after LeT hijack threat

NEW DELHI: With intelligence inputs warning of a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) plot to hijack Nepal-bound flights, security has been beefed up at Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi airports. Confirming this to ET, CISF director general SIS Ahmed said that though security at airports was already on a very high alert due to the perpetual terror threat faced by the aviation sector, “surveillance is further stepped up whenever additional inputs come in.”


According to CISF commandant at Varanasi airport, Rohitashva Kumar, LeT has recruited three Pakistani nationals for hijacking Nepal-bound flights. The jehadi outfit has also allegedly managed to procure Nepali passports for the attackers through their networks so as “to enable them to escape the dragnet of our security and intelligence agencies while travelling between the two countries.”

The latest IB inputs have led to the CISF, manning the three airports with which Kathmandu is connected by air — Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi — going on maximum alert. Multi-layered security arrangements have been put into place, including the deployment of quick reaction teams (QRTs) comprising commandos, to deal with any emergency including hijack threats.

The terror threat is being taken very seriously since it not only comes in the middle of the festive season (the terrorists had struck last year by carrying out multiple blasts in the Capital on Diwali eve), but also due to the fact of there being a history of flights headed for Nepal being hijacked by terrorists. In fact, Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked as it was headed for Kathmandu In December 1999.

The flight was taken to Kandahar, where the infamous exchange of hardcore terrorists for the detained passengers took place. The security establishment is taking no chances this time and has immediately introduced multi-layered arrangements.