The Central Industrial Security Force at Bangalore airport, apart from taking care of passenger security, also makes sure that their lost baggage is restored to them.

In the last two years, the CISF has made a concerted effort to trace the owners of the baggage, often forgotten at the X-Ray scanner at the security check-in counter.

Giving the statistics of lost and found baggage, Senior Commandant, CISF, Bangalore airport, Sudhir Kumar said that in 2005, they recovered lost baggage worth Rs 7 lakh.

“In 2006, the CISF recovered lost baggage worth Rs 1.21 crore last year and this year, up till August, we recovered baggage worth Rs 1.11 crore,” said the CISF officer.

“Among other things, we recover hundreds of laptops, mobile phones and hand purses carrying cash and jewellery. We try and trace the owner and return the lost item to him. Recently, we found a hand bag containing jewellery worth over Rs five lakh. Thankfully, we were able to track the owner and return it to her,” he added. In another incident, a Hyderabad-bound traveller by mistake picked up someone else’s bag containing foreign currency of high denomination. “We were able to locate him. He said he took the bag thinking it was his as it looked similar to his bag. The cash was intact and was returned to the owner,” said Mr Sudhir.

The CISF maintains an inventory of the lost and found items. “They are in possession of the terminal manager. Anyone who has lost his baggage at the security check in counter at the Bangalore airport can contact him. He, after cross verifying the identity of the owner, will release the item to him or her,” said the senior CISF commandant. The CISF staff gets a nominal incentive as a token of appreciation for their efforts.