JOIN USIncrease in ammo seizures at airport
Arrests of over 100 passengers who had managed to sneak firearms and ammunition aboard Delhi-bound flights from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), has set off alarm bells for Delhi Police, who say the number of such incidents is rising.
One hundred and four passengers – 16 foreigners and 88 Indians – were arrested from the IGI airport between January 2012 and April 2014.
The majority of the violations took place on domestic flights and, in most cases, the culprits were from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh who were carrying live cartridges, one or two weapons were also recovered. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) M.I. Haider, one of the most shocking incidents involved the arrest of a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, Manny Encarnacion, 35, who was arrested for carrying live cartridges in his bag.
"I wonder how he managed to clear security checks and scanners at the US airport with the live bullets in his luggage," a baffled Haider remarked while speaking to IANS.
Encarnacion, a Harlem beat officer, was apprehended when he alighted from a New York flight on March 11 and was headed for Pune on an Air India flight to meet his newly-wedded wife. He was presented before a Delhi court on March 11 and was granted bail the same day.
As far as the arrests of passengers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is concerned, Haider said, “Some of them have licenses but they are ignorant of the fact that they have to declare to the airport authorities about carrying ammunition or weapons," he added.
Meanwhile, the rise in such incidents has the police worried. Haider said that this year, they have already arrested 23 people, of whom 18 are Indians and five foreigners.
“We can only arrest such passengers but that will not prevent a possible fatal incident or attack. This casual attitude is totally unacceptable, the agencies in charge must take this matter seriously and take necessary steps,” another police officer said.