In a major security breach, an ammunition cartridge was found in the pocket of an Air India flight on October 27, forcing the pilot to land the flight immediately at Delhi airport. The airline spokesperson, in a statement released on Saturday, said the flight took off from Dubai and landed at Delhi Airport. Subsequently, all the passengers disembarked safely, the airline said without providing details of the incident. “A complaint was lodged with the Airport Police by Air India strictly adhering to the laid down security protocols,” Air India added.
The latest development came amid a series of hoax bomb threats to the Indian airlines. In 16 days, more than 510 domestic and international flights have received the threats that later turned out to be hoaxes. The threats were issued mostly through social media.
This propelled the government to hold an emergency meeting in the third week of October. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said that law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing all cases of bomb threats against airlines and the government is closely monitoring the situation.
‘Naidu chaired a meeting with the officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
