New Delhi: Seven terrorists have managed to get hold of the army uniforms of captain and subedar ranks, according to intelligence inputs. They have been spotted along border posts in Amritsar. Security in Delhi airport, metro stations and public places have been stepped up since.
The Intelligence Bureau alert, which has originated from Amritsar, said: “Seven terrorists have been seen outside Chakri and Gurdaspur border posts. The group has acquired combat ranks of captain and subedar of Indian Army, which are likely to be worn after infiltration”.
Apart from the airport and Metro stations, personnel on election duty in Punjab have also been asked to be on alert. Increased security vigil at the Delhi airport has, however, put passengers at an inconvenience.
“In view of the Republic Day, we are maintaining the highest level of security and two additional layers of frisking have been added at the airport. While at the Metro stations, one layer of security has been added, where commuters are frisked while they are in queue and the second one after they cross the metal detector,” said an official with CISF, the force which provides security for airports and Metro operations.
However, fliers have a lot to complain about as the CISF is conducting random frisking at the gate and baggage is screened twice. CISF has also ordered for ladder-point checking, which means passengers may be asked for baggage scanning and frisking at the boarding point.
“We have strengthened the security at the approach road and through spped breakers, vehicles will be slowed down. We have also asked the airlines to start the Secondary Ladder Point Checking (SLPC) just before passengers enter the aircraft. We request the passengers to reach before time as due to multiple layers of security, the queues are expected to be longer,” CISF’s director general OP Singh said.
CISF has formed a ‘sweeping-squad’ and those who are trained in profiling are part of it. “Their job is to identify suspicious passengers as soon as they enter the airport. The members of this squad have been placed across the airport,” a BCAS official said.