Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala police have begun
a comprehensive probe into the recovery of a crude explosive
from the cargo section of a Kingfisher flight here with focus
on "security lapses".
The Bangalore police, Civil Aviation Department and
Central intelligence agencies would help in the investigations
considering the seriousness of the case, highly placed police
sources said on Monday.
The "country-made bomb like object" of the size of a
cricket ball containing 30 gms of 'gunpowder', wrapped in two
layers of paper, one of which was a page from the
Thiruvananthapuram edition of a Malayalam newspaper, was found
on Sunday on the plane that arrived from Bangalore here with
31 people on board, raising security concerns.
As part of the probe, a three-member team led by Police
Commissioner M R Ajaya Kumar rushed to Bangalore last evening
itself to view the CCTV recordings at the airport
there to ascertain details of the passengers, who flew in the
flight and ground-handling staff including cargo loaders.
Similarly, a Bangalore police team is expected to be here
later today to collect such details from the city airport.
"We will be collecting all the details from both the
airports for analysis. We will be helped by other agencies
concerned. However, as the detection was done here, the state
police will be playing a vital role in investigations and
pursuance of the case," a police officer said.
The probe would look into all aspects of the case like
how and where it got into the aircraft's cargo hold, where it
(the object) was contrived and from where the material used
for it was purchased.
The CISF, in charge of the airport security, would be
holding an internal inquiry to ascertain if there were any
loopholes in their system, sources said.
Police would file an FIR in a local court in the case
today.
PTI
First Published: Monday, March 22, 2010, 13:07