Arrested Lankan tests airport security

Tuesday, 2 August 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In a major security lapse, a Sri Lankan national, arrested by the Delhi airport police for travelling on a forged passport, managed to escape from the clutches of police personnel and reached Hyderabad by boarding a flight right under their nose.

The Delhi police managed to track him down and alerted their counterparts in Hyderabad. Though he was nabbed 18 hours later, the incident exposes chinks in the security cover at the country’s top airport.

Police posted at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Shamshabad, apprehended a Sri Lankan of Tamil descent, who arrived in Hyderabad on a flight after escaping from the Delhi airport police station on Saturday night. After he was apprehended, he was sent back to Delhi.

According to airport officials, Kathirkam Thasinthan, 24, of Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, from Colombo. While he was trying to board a connecting flight to New York, immigration officials at the IGI airport found that Kathirkam was travelling on a forged passport and apprehended him.

They also seized the forged Indian passport in the name of Adesh Goel. He was handed over to the IGI airport police. However, while he was being questioned by the Delhi airport police, Kathirkam managed to slip out of the police station located right next to the airport and sneaked back into the terminal.

After sneaking back into the airport terminal, sources said Kathirkam quickly analysed the list of available flights leaving Delhi. He zeroed in on Air India’s AI 126 flight ready to leave and purchased a ticket to Hyderabad. Meanwhile, the IGI airport police, who realised that the Sri Lankan had escaped, sounded an alarm and started a frantic search for Kathirkam on all the roads out of the airport. While they were looking for him outside, Kathirkam checked in and boarded the flight to Hyderabad.