IB warns airports of Afghan men in leather jackets

Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned security officials at Indian airports against a new threat, cautioning them to look out for passengers of Afghan-origin wearing leather jackets, which could be modified to carry explosives.

Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned security officials at Indian airports against a new threat, cautioning them to look out for passengers of Afghan-origin wearing leather jackets, which could be modified to carry explosives.

The bureau, last week, asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that looks after security in 59 airports across the country to identify such passengers and ensure they are thoroughly frisked before boarding.

"Leather jacket is quite common with passengers of Afghan-origin," said a senior CISF official. "The input has been received by IB but originally, security agencies in USA have got to know about this modus operandi. Terrorists have developed jackets in which it is difficult to detect explosives. Suspicious passengers will be asked to remove the jackets and frisking staff has been briefed to check them through handheld metal detectors carefully."

CISF has circulated the information to all the airports under it and will start Secondary Ladder Point Check (SLPC), under which a person is frisked twice before boarding a plane, in the ones that are classed hyper-sensitive.

Besides metro cities, 18 airports across the country are classed hyper-sensitive, including Varanasi, Raipur, Imphal and Guwahati.

"At least at the metro airports, we have started SLPC of few flights," said the CISF official.

Sources said IB has suggested that personnel posted at the Delhi airport must be trained by the National Security Guard. The bureau has also asked CISF to start tactical deployment of personnel to improve response time in case of a terror attack.

Airports around the world were put on alert after terrorists attacked the Karachi airport in June, where 36 people were killed and over 18 injured.