Lankan nabbed after 18-hour chase
A Sri Lankan who was offloaded from an Air India flight on Saturday
morning for attempting to travel on a forged passport, had managed to
evade airline and security officials for almost 18 hours, before finally
being caught in Hyderabad.
The passenger, a Sri Lankan, had been on his way to New York when
airline staff received intimation from US state agency Custom and Border
Protection, that the passenger was not to be permitted to travel to the
US. He had been reportedly travelling on the passport of a Mumbai
resident, Adesh Goel, who had reported that the passport was missing.
The accused had superimposed his photograph on the passport and US visa
and managed to get a fake immigration stamp as well.
At 1.30 am, minutes before the flight was scheduled for departure,
the passenger was offloaded by airline security staff. In the FIR to the
police, airline officials have claimed that the passenger had given them
the slip at the aerobridge gate itself. An enquiry into the action of
airline staff may also be carried out, airport sources said.
The FRRO and CISF had been informed of the incident only around 7 am.
The police had lodged an official complaint around 2.30 pm. When
security agencies started looking through the CCTV footage, they had
managed to identify the passenger and saw him, first change clothes and
then leave for Hyderabad by another Air India flight at 5.40 pm.
The Hyderabad control room had been immediately informed about the
incident and a photograph of the passenger faxed to them. He had taken
the Chicago-Delhi-Hyderabad flight and did not have to change terminals.
As per information, he had been present in the security held area all
this time. Had security agencies been informed on time, the man would
have been caught much earlier. This had been a serious security breach.
How can an offender be allowed to roam around the terminal and then
escape in this preposterous way? asked airport sources.
A police team had been dispatched to Hyderabad at 6 am on Sunday, to
bring the accused back to the capital. Sources said that during
interrogations, the passenger had said that he was travelling to Canada
to meet his uncle. Times of India reports |