Airline staff in Chennai detect pistol in parcel

mumbai: in a major case of breach of security on thursday, an air gun and a pistol were found in a postal bag at chennai airport which was to have been put aboard a jet airways flight bound for port blair. the bag containing the weapons along with other postal items had earlier arrived in chennai from kolkata. the guns had been booked by an agency at kolkata to be delivered to a party at port blair.jet officials told tnn here that postal bags weighing more than 200 grams meant to be air freighted have to undergo a 24-hour cooling period to satisfy security requirements. strangely enough the objects are not x-rayed. after this the postal department has to submit a declaration to the airline saying that the bag contains nothing objectionable. ``it is only after this process is completed that these bags are accepted by the airline,'' the official said. in this case, the postal department at kolkata had given a declaration to jet stating that the bag contained nothing objectionable. said the official: ``it is debatable whether an air gun and a pistol can be considered objectionable or not. however, since they are weapons the postal department should have informed us specially because of the vitiated security environment,'' he said. the official said the postal department could offer a counter-argument that the kolkata agency which had booked the weapons should have informed the airline. ``the fact is the airline is carrying the items on behalf of the postal department. therefore, we feel the responsibility of informing the airline lies with it,'' he said emphasising that this definitely constituted a breach of security. he explained that after the terrorist attacks in new york and washington, security at airports had been considerably stepped up worldwide. ``even safety pins and shaving razors are now being viewed with suspicion,'' he stressed. it was at chennai airport that an alert jet security official felt the bag contained something ``suspicious'' and got it screened in the x-ray machine. ``on the monitor he noticed objects resembling a weapon and opened it only to find the pistol and the air gun,'' the official said. the official said the bag along with the guns were removed. jet's general manager for security operations colonel a.s. bedi said the matter was under investigation. other aviation sources felt intrigued that the kolkata firm had adopted a circuitous route to dispatch the weapons to port blair. ``why did it not book them by the direct alliance air flight from kolkata to port blair ?'' an aviation official asked.