In 2016, passengers forgot phones, laptops, wallets and jackets worth Rs 5.57cr at Delhi airport
In 2016, the CISF recovered lost items worth Rs5.57 crore at the Delhi airport, of which items worth Rs 1.78 crore were handed over to the passengers immediately, while the rest were kept at the airport. This year, till March, items worth Rs73.90 lakh have been recovered.
On March 21, a middle-aged Japanese man had boarded his flight for Tokyo at Delhi airport, waiting for it to take-off when security personnel barged in looking for him. To his surprise, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel had come to return his pouch containing foreign currency equivalent to Rs2.5 lakh, two wrist watches along with documents and debit cards.
After mobiles phones and laptops, wallets are the third most forgetten item found by the CISF at the Delhi airport. While the CISF initially treat these items as potential threat, once they get the clearance, the staff starts looking for the owner of the item so that it can be returned.
In 2016, the CISF recovered lost items worth Rs 5.57 crore at the Delhi airport, of which items worth Rs 1.78 crore were handed over to the passengers immediately, while the rest were kept at the airport. Of the left over items, 1,876 mobiles, 1,169 laptops, 335 cameras/wrist watch and 809 wallets and currency were recovered.
“In this case, the documents revealed that the pouch belong to a Japanese national travelling to Tokyo. Our staff immediately rushed to the boarding gate and found that passenger had already boarded. Our staff went inside the plane and after proper verification the pouch was handed over to him. Our objective, in such cases, is to trace the owner at the airport itself so that he/she doesn’t have to come back again to get the lost item,” said a CISF official, requesting anonymity.
This year, till March, items worth Rs73.90 lakh have been recovered.
Air travellers tend to forget items such as costly phones, foreign currency, cameras, wrist watches and bag. To minimise harassment for such passengers, this year, CISF had taken the initiative where the staff was given a monthly target to return the lost item to its owner before they board the flight.
Usually these items were handed over to the airport operator and passengers were asked to claim it from there, which was a time-taking process.
“This is a passenger friendly initiative and has received a positive feedback. We have formed teams to monitor unidentified items at the airport and trace the owners. The team works in coordination with the control room, who scan CCTV footage to trace the owner,” the official added.
In 2017, between January and March, 1,126 items such as mobile phones, laptop, wrist watches, passport and jackets have been recovered by the CISF, of which 154 were handed over to the passengers immediately.
