http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=November2006&file=World_News200611109126.xml
Airports on alert after terror threat Web posted at: 11/10/2006 9:12:6 Source ::: IANS New Delhi . Airports across India were put on high security alert yesterday following an anonymous warning that Al Qaeda was targeting southern airports in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the government announced yesterday. The Civil Aviation Ministry sounded the countrywide alert after the Trichy airport staff found an anonymous letter in Tamil on Wednesday warning of possible Al Qaeda strikes, Ajay Prasad, Secretary in the ministry, said yesterday. "The letter said that Al Qaeda would be targeting airports in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We have strengthened the security measures and are not taking any chances," Prasad told reporters here. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which provides security to all civilian airports, had earlier said the specific threat was directed at six of the airports in the country's south: Trichy, Madurai, Chennai, Coimbatore (all Tamil Nadu) and Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode (all Kerala). Prasad said the handwritten letter was found in an envelop in a room under construction at Trichy airport. "An airport employee found it and handed it over to the airport director," he said. "Right now we cannot say categorically that it is a hoax. The intelligence agencies are looking into it," he added. "Security was beefed up immediately." He said the ministry was in close touch with intelligence agencies and other law enforcing agencies. In Chennai, the purported threat prompted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to review security across the state. Police sources said the threat might be linked to the death sentence passed against deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Several cities in Tamil Nadu have seen large protests against the verdict. Authorities in Tamil Nadu put in place stringent security procedures. Visitors were not allowed into the waiting area. Police dogs were deployed in the airports. The security measures included special checks just before embarkation, increased security around airports, additional baggage screenings and a "bit of passenger profiling", sources said. The letter was first found by a cleaner, who threw it away, but it was later rediscovered. Security agencies were alerted and called an emergency meeting, Chennai Airport Director S Sreekumar told reporters. "Although we have received similar threats in the past, this time as the letter particularly mentioned car bombs, we could not take it lightly," Sreekumar added. "The present law and order situation is satisfactory. But since I think it can be maintained in a much more better manner, I have been frequently meeting senior officers," Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told the media in Chennai. In Thiruvananthapuram, Arun Kumar Sinha, the Inspector General of Police, said airport authorities in Kerala too were on high alert. "Every passenger arriving or departing from the airports (Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode) is being frisked," he said. "We are leaving nothing to chance. We are also checking vehicles that come and leave the three airports," he said. Security has been tightened in co-ordination with state police and CISF in Thiruvananthapuram, Nedumbassery and Calicut Airports, official sources said. Passenger baggage was being thoroughly checked and vehicles were allowed into the airports only after a thorough search, the sources said. A special meeting of the Airports Authority and security agencies was held here today to review and strengthen security arrangements, they said. Earlier in New Delhi, a CISF official said: "As a precaution, vehicles of the airport staff and their baggage are also being checked by security personnel in letter and spirit". "Specific instructions have been issued to officials posted at different airports to ensure that the passengers are not harassed and there should not be any panic." The CISF has also posted "spotters" --- men trained to identify suspicious people --- at the airports. He said airports at the southern cities of Coimbatore, Madurai, Chennai, Bangalore and Thiruvanthapuram were placed under a tighter security blanket. "What we have done is to inform security directors of these airports, hold security meetings, brief airport operators and ground staff about the perceived threat," the official said. Security was also increased at the airports in New Delhi and India's financial capital Mumbai as a precaution, he added. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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