Stowaway on AI flight not a terrorist, say police

Habib Hussain, who travelled on an Air India (AI) flight from Medina in Saudi Arabia to Jaipur without relevant papers, was remanded to six days in police custody by a magistrate here on Sunday, report Veer Sain & Manish Tiwari.

Habib Hussain, who travelled on an Air India (AI) flight from Medina in Saudi Arabia to Jaipur without relevant papers, was remanded to six days in police custody by a magistrate here on Sunday.

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He was arrested in Jaipur on Saturday night. Hussain would be produced before the court on January 2, 2010, after the remand, SP (Jaipur-East) B.G. Joseph said.

The police in Rajasthan could not find anything to establish that Hussain had terrorist links.

Inspector General of Police B.L. Soni said: “On a complaint filed by Air India officials, an FIR was registered against Hussain for touring without proper travel documents.”

Soni said: “It is a case of negligence on the part of Air India, but there seems to be no criminal conspiracy”. An FIR (first information report) is a written document prepared by the police for an offence.

A senior officer of the anti-terrorist squad of the state police said no terror angle had been proved in the incident. “It is a security lapse,” he said.

Hussain (25), who hails from Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh, managed to board the flight in Medina on December 25 without a ticket or passport. He had been working there with a ground-handling company engaged by AI.

He told the Jaipur police that he was desperate to get back home because he was dissatisfied with his job.

AI has sought an explanation from the ground-handling agency as to how its employee managed to remain on board and travel to Jaipur without valid documents. The Intelligence Bureau and central probe agencies are questioning Hussain.
(With PTI inputs)