Innovative lighters give CISF nightmares

Perfume bottles and cream biscuits that are actually lighters - these and many such banned items that are smuggled in and out or carried along for its sheer peculiarity by air passengers is giving a headache to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Faizan Haider reports.

Perfume bottles and cream biscuits that are actually lighters - these and many such banned items that are smuggled in and out or carried along for its sheer peculiarity by air passengers is giving a headache to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

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The most recent was an attempt to smuggle a lighter into a flight by a passenger at the Mumbai airport. The lighter looked like a cream biscuit. And though the flyer was caught, the latest episode has forced the CISF into scanning anything peculiar a passenger may be carrying with him/her as it could be lighter or any other banned item.

The CISF, which is responsible for security at airports across the country, have now prepared a list of items that can be replicas of lighters and could be misused for anti-social activities. The list contains lighters that look like shoes, perfume or wine bottles and even belt buckles. The list has been circulated across all airports to keep a watch on such passengers who may attempt to carry lighters in flights.

"The case of a lighter looking like a cream biscuit was a strange one. We were able to seize it only because of the alertness of our staff. In the past one month, we have seized lighters in different forms at different airports. Earlier, we had seized a lighter from Patna airport that looked like a shoe. We have compiled a data and sent it to airports with photographs of such lighters and how they can be opened," said a senior CISF official.

Another peculiar case the CISF encountered and have included in the list was that of a man wearing a belt whose buckle was actually a lighter. "We asked the passenger to show us how it worked. What was disturbing was how difficult it is to detect such cases. And such cases keep coming in, so we have to constantly alert other airports to ensure no one manages to sneak in banned items," the official added.