Security breach: Man held at airport for ‘lighting up’ inside flight washroom

He was handed over to the police after the flight descended at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in the city.The incident, however, points to a security breach, with passengers questioning how the person was able to sneak in cigarettes and a lighter into the aircraft. Police said Joseph Vanlaluva, a resident of Mizoram, will be produced before Barrackpore’s additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court.

“The person got into a flight from Chennai. He had gone to the toilet, but was apprehended by the flight staff after he came back to his seat. The staff filed a complaint with the NSCBI police station. We have arrested the person on  basis of the complaint,” said a police officer.

Meanwhile, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) went into a tizzy after this incident. “Although, the passenger boarded the flight from Chennai, we have beefed up the security system here. Passengers have verbally been alerted,” said a CISF officer.

The accused claimed that he did not have knowledge of the ‘no smoking’ rule in flights. “He said, this is the first time that he was travelling in a plane,” said the officer.

In another incident at the Kolkata airport, a glass pane of an aero bridge collapsed on Wednesday morning. The airport authorities said that people who were standing under the glass had a close shave but no one was injured in the incident. Security personnel cordoned off the area with barricades.

This is the first instance when the glass pane of an aero bridge has collapsed. “The glass pane of aero bridge number 21 suddenly collapsed. No one was injured, but some people standing close to the immediate point of fall had a close shave,” said an airport insider.

There are 40,000 glass panes in the airport. Many of them have collapsed in the refurbished Kolkata airport. “There are many questions about the quality of glass installed in the newly-built airport terminal. Many experts allege the quality of the glass is sub-standard,” said the source.