KSRP platoon, CISF staff join cops to strengthen security at MIA

Close on the heels of the detection of a bag with improvised explosive device (IED), security was intensified at the Mangalore International Airport (MIA) on Tuesday.

All the vehicles entering the airport were being thoroughly checked at the manned entry gate. A Karnataka State Reserve Police platoon and three CISF staff members along with police staff members were deployed at the checking point. The police staff members and CISF staff members were placed on high alert at the airport.

The names of the riders and other details were collected even from two-wheeler riders who entered the airport. The personnel at the gate forced drivers to open the car’s luggage compartment and thoroughly checked the luggage.

As many as 250 CISF staff members had been deployed for the security of the airport. They had been working in two to three shifts for the past several years. Normally, the CISF staff members are present at the departure entrance of the airport. No staff member was found near the ticket counter, where the suspected bag was placed.

Sources said that there are four to five CCTV cameras at the manned entry gate, but no CCTV camera had been placed on the road leading to the airport and at the exit road.

‘HDK should have his head examined at Nimhans’

BJP District President Sanjeeva Matandoor lashed out at former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and declared that the latter’s suspicions about police having ulterior motives in the airport bomb scare incident not only left cops demoralised but encouraged anti-social elements.

“The cops risked their lives to save lives. Kumaraswamy should stop politicking,” said Matandoor.

“Kumaraswamy should either submit himself to brain mapping or get his head examined in Nimhans,” he criticised.