Hijack puts Mumbai airport on high alert

Following the hijack of a Cairo-bound EgyptAir flight with 82 passengers on board, a high alert was declared at all airports across the country, said an official from Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. High alert was also declared at the Mumbai city airport. A senior Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official informed The Asian Age that security checks at the international terminal of the Mumbai airport had gone up and “We have beefed up checking and started augmenting personal profiling of passengers based on their behaviour. The city airport was already on alert after the Brussels attack of March 22.”

The latest high alert order in the city airport came after EgyptAir flight MS181 from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus on Tuesday.

Due to the declaration of high alert at the city airport, patrolling of security personnel around the city-side area of the airport and frisking of passengers at the security hold area has been increased.

The private security agencies of the airport and the CISF have intensified surveillance of passengers. Due to baggage checks, passengers can expect an extra delay of around 20 minutes before boarding flight, as officials will conduct the checking manually, said the security official.

A security official said that due to the Indian Premier League and T20 World Cup, several celebrities would be visiting the city airport. “So we are already maintaining a high level of security. Also, on March 22, the day of the Brussels attack, the airport received a call warning of bomb threats to several flights in Mumbai. This month the city airport received as many as 50 hoax calls, so it’s on alert. We can’t ignore a single call as terror is growing around the globe,” said the official.